At a recent meeting of the UPS Women’s Leadership Development Book Club, the new international editions of the IL (The Introverted Leader for those of you who are new to this blog) created quite a buzz. The Chinese cover is a work of art. Truly. But, we wondered, why the sheep? Are introverted leaders sheep, moving on to parts unknown? Turns out, our western interpretation was seriously off base.
Thanks to Corporate Learning expert, Julie Ernspiker, who went the extra mile. She researched the symbolism of the sheep vis a vis introversion.
“I recently did some work in China, and I suspected that there may be a connection to the Chinese Zodiac. I did a little research and here is what I learned. Notice I reflected on this for a while and am now sending an e-mail. 😉
The sheep is the eighth symbol in the Chinese Zodiac. It symbolizes the character traits of creativity, intelligence, dependability and calmness. According to Chinese astrology, people who are born under the sign of the sheep are comfortable “being alone to ponder the workings of their inner minds…..”
Based on what we learned about introverts, it makes sense that the Chinese would use a sheep to represent one.
