“Mushers” and people who travel by dog sled over snowy, frozen terrain. “Mushers” have a saying: “If you’re not the lead dog, the scenery never changes.”

That “Mushers” saying has become a centerpiece doctrine of the leadership literature that has been inundating the corporate and church worlds of the last thirty years. If you are not the “top dog,” in other words, no matter how far you travel your journey is just going to be a “tale of tails.”

Striving to be “top dog” is the goal we are encouraged to achieve from our earliest childhood to our graduate school education. No one wants to be the “under dog” or the “low dog.” Being “on top” means getting the best grades in school, in order to get the best opportunities, the best treatment, the best salary, the bst office, the best seats in t…