Monika Orski
The Art of Herding Cats
Leading the Intelligent, aMensa Experience
Part 1: Learning by Doing Leadership
THE ART OF HERDING CATS
PART 1: LEARNINGBY DOING LEADERSHIP
Orski
THE ART OF HERDING CATS
Leadingthe Intelligent, AMensa Experience
PART 1:
LEARNINGBY DOING LEADERSHIP
Monika
Allrightsreserved.
No part of this publicationmay be reproduced,storedina retrieval system,usedfor automatedanalysisfor thepurpose of generating information, or transmitted, in anyformorbyany means, withoutthe priorpermissioninwriting of thecopyright holder.
©2025MonikaOrski
Coverart by Natkacheva /Freepik
PublishedbyBoD ·Books on Demand,Östermalmstorg1,114 42 Stockholm, Sweden,bod@bod.se
PrintedbyLibri PlureosGmbH, Friedensallee273, 22763 Hamburg, Germany
ISBN:978-91-8080-982-5
Introduction
Once upon atime, when Iwas young, Ijoineda funnylittleclubcalled Mensa. Iwas astudent of computer scienceand of literature –an unusualcombination,I wasoften told.Myconfidenceinbeing fairly intelligentwas solid, butI hadnever done anykindofIQtest. Then I heardofthissociety that used high IQ as arequirement forentry,and that they wouldadministerIQtests.Itwasn’tevenexpensive to take one. Beinga curiousyoung woman, Idecided to take theirtest, just forthe funofit. Then,I gotaninvitationtojoinMensa.Still being curious, Idecided to trya year of membership andsee what it wasall about.
Now, more than 30 yearslater,I know that this casual curiosityled me to amulti-foldadventure.Overthe years, Ihavemet many Mensans, hadlotsoffun,and travelledtoplaceswhere Iprobablywould not have gone to withouta Mensa-relatedreason. Somewherealong the way, Ilearned alot aboutinteractions, different social andcultural contexts,and aboutleadership. More specifically,I learnedhow to lead Mensans, also knownasherding cats.Asyou,being smartasyou are, probably deducedfromthe title, theseleadershiplessons arethe focus of this text.
Amongmanydifferent volunteerpositions,I wasthe chairperson (often simplified as “chair”) of MensaSweden2015-2019. During this time,I wrotea book called “Konsten attvalla katter”(“The Artof HerdingCats”), that waspublished in 2019. It is acombination of a Mensamemoirand aleadershipguide,ora hybrid between an essay andaninstruction attempt. Iamhappy to have received plenty of positive reader response,aswellasmanyinteresting commentsfrom readers; Mensansand non-mensansalike.
SincemanyofmyMensanfriends do notreadSwedish,and as no publishers hastaken it upon them so fartotranslate theSwedish edition, Ihavetried to writeonsomeofthe same topics in English. This is nota translation. Partly becauseI couldnot translatefrommy native tongue into aforeign language.Partlybecause Inow have the opportunitytotry anew arrangementofthe storiesand addsome ideasthathaveemerged in conversationsafter “Konsten attvalla Katter” waspublished,aswellasadditionalthingsI have learnedin
my continuedvolunteering in Mensaafter thebookwas publishedin 2019. Consider this versionaspartofanongoing adventure, oneyou areherebyinvited to join.
This book consists of twoparts,interwovenbut stilldistinct: Thechaptersmarkedas“MemoirsofaSwedishMensadinosaur”are memoirsofa sort.Theytellthe storyofmyexperiences within Mensa Sweden,asI remember them.Needless to say, this is highly subjective,and otherpeopleinvolvedinthe same events might remember them differently.But it is my intentiontolet thoseparts show wheremyreasoning comesfrom, as well as to providesome entertainment.
Theother chapters areintendedasmorepractical leadership advice.If youare notinterestedinmymorepersonalanecdotes,you are welcometoskipthe memoirschapters, as theadviceand reflection partscan be read on theirown.
Leading highly intelligent individuals canbeboth an immensely rewarding and challenging experience. When those individuals are also volunteers, the complexity of leadership
In this thought-provoking book, aformer national chair of Mensa Sweden shares valuable insights and practical lessons drawnfrom years of experience leading within one of the world’s most intellectually gifted communities. With Mensa being alargely volunteer-driven organization, it offers arare environment to explore leadership in its most nuanced and
challenging form, also know as herding cats. humour. 9789180
Youwill learn about leadership by sugar, explanations adapted for the fast thinkers, and how acharacter from achildren's book can help. Plus someother things youmight not yetknow that youwant to know.There are evensomeattempts at
Ideal for leaders, managers, and anyone working with highperforming or highly autonomous teamsofprofessionals or volunteers,The Art of Herding Cats guides youthrough doing the mostly impossible and how to enjoyit. increases evenmore.
Monika Orskiisanauthor of bothfiction and non-fiction. Trained as acomputer engineer as well as in literature, shehas established acareer as an IT and leadership consultant,
She’salsobeen an activevolunteer in Mensafor many years, including servingasChairof MensaSweden between 2015 and 2019.While sheusually writes in Swedish,thisbook
About theauthor in addition to her role as asought-after keynotespeaker is writteninEnglish, inviting awider international audience