鳴かぬなら If the bird does not sing

I was recently given the opportunity to work with a team under the leadership of Mr. Takada. His slogan for this term is  " 鳴かぬなら、そういう種類の  ほととぎす ".

As expected, I was quite clueless even after I asked help from google translation.

Finally, a friend came to enlighten me.

ほととぎす (ホトトギス/杜鵑) means the cuckoo bird .

In Japan, there are the 3 famous Haiku Poems（俳句）by Warriors in the Sengoku era（戦国武将）. They are famous because each haiku poem shows warrior’s characteristics.

-   Nobunaga Oda（織田信長） said, `If the bird does not sing, I will kill it.’

(鳴かぬなら　殺してしまえ　ホトトギス)

-   Hideyoshi Toyotomi（豊臣秀吉）said, ‘If the bird does not sing, I will force it to sing.’

(鳴かぬなら　鳴くのに代えよう　ホトトギス)

-   Ieyasu Tokugawa（徳川家康）said ‘If the bird does not sing, I will wait until it starts to sing,’　

(鳴かぬなら　鳴くまで待とう　ホトトギス)

There are many followers to imitate this expression including Mr. Takada's version: 

鳴かぬなら、そういう種類の    ほととぎす

What does it mean?

My Japanese-speaking Toastmasters friends helped me after the meeting this evening. After 30 minutes of discussion, I think it means:

'If the bird does not sing, I will acknowledge it as well.' 

It means that this team will appreciate individual talents and value diversity. 

This is a very poetic way to convey a leader's core value. 

Do I finally understand it correctly? 

I asked Mr. Takada and he said....

It is completely correct. 

What I want to say is each and everyone has good point and that point must be respected.

He also said, "...this slogan is more accurate to be termed as "Senryu（川柳）" than "Haiku（俳句）"...."

Senryu（川柳）?   Haiku（俳句）?  .....  ???

The learning never ends.

It will need another post for another story. 😂