What can a governor learn from an archer?

Jack Kruf | April 2019

What can the world of public governance learn from archery? Archery is a mature sport that has developed dramatically since its inception. Because of this, the sport itself has undergone many changes and improvements.

In governance and public administration, we may learn from the archery world to select and curate the basic skills perceived as essential by professional archers. After all, governance is a form of archery, metaphorically spoken.

There are parallels:  a good governor has the skills of a good archer in effectively reaching the target. After all, both professions are about precision. Here, we focus on the archer. I collected some skills from the archery world. I leave it to the reader to find similarities with the governance world.

A summary of skills

Archery is a broad set of fundamental skills necessary to be an experienced archer. Among the skills and abilities archers need are mental strength, aerobic endurance, balance and coordination, reaction time, motivation & self-confidence, skill/technique, agility, flexibility, strength & power.

The most obvious is the need for a high level of upper body strength and flexibility. An archer needs to be able to shoot arrows accurately and repeat that action without suffering fatigue. We elaborate on some of the skills.