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The Hare and the tortoise....
Once upon a time a tortoise & a hare had an argument about who was faster.
They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a route
and started off the race. The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some
time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he`d
sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race.
He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodding on
overtook him & soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ.
The hare woke up and realized that he`d lost the race. The moral of the
story is that slow and steady wins the race. This is the version of the
story that we`ve all grown up with!! But then recently,someone told me a
more interesting version of this story.It continues.The hare was
disappointed at losing the race & he did some soul-searching. He
realized that he`d lost the race only because he had been
overconfident,careless and lax.If he had not taken things for
granted,there`s no way the tortoise could have beaten him.
So he challenged the tortoise to another race.The tortoise agreed.This
time,the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish.
He won by several miles.
The moral of the story? Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and
steady. If you have two people in your organisation,one slow,methodical and
reliable,and the other fast and still reliable at what he does,the fast and
reliable chap will consistently climb the organisational ladder faster than
the slow, methodical chap.It`s good to be slow and steady; but it`s better
to be fast and reliable.But the story doesn`t end here.The tortoise did some
thinking this time & realized that there`s no way he can beat the hare in a
race the way it was currently formatted.
He thought for a while,and then challenged the hare to another race, but on
a slightly different route.The hare agreed. They started off.In keeping
with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off
and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was
a couple of kilometres on the other side of the river.The hare sat there
wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundled along, got
into the river, swam to the opposite bank,continued walking and finished the
race.The moral of the story?
First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to
suit your core competency.In an organisation, if you are a good speaker,
make sure you create opportunities to give presentations that enable the
senior management to notice you.If your strength is analysis, make sure you
do some sort of research,make a report and send it upstairs.Working to your
strengths will not only get you noticed, but will also create opportunities
for growth & advancement.
The story still hasn`t ended.The hare & the tortoise, by this time, had
become pretty good friends and they did some thin king together. Both
realized that the last race could have been run much better.So they decided
to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time.They started off &
this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank.
There,the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back.On
the opposite bank,the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the
finishing line together.They both felt a greater sense of satisfaction than
they`d felt earlier.The moral of the story? It`s good to be individually
brilliant and to have strong core competencies; but unless you`re able to
work in a team and harness each other`s core competencies, you`ll always
perform below par because there will always be situations at which you`ll
do poorly and someone else does well.
Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership,letting the person with the
relevant core competency for a situation take leadership.There are more
lessons to be learnt from this story.
Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise gave up after failures.The hare
decided to work harder and put in more effort after his failure.The tortoise
changed his strategy because he was already working as hard as he could.In
life,when faced with failure,sometimes it is appropriate to work harder and
put in more effort.Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy and try
something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to do both.
The hare & the tortoise also learnt another vital lesson.When we stop
competing against a rival and instead start competing against the
situation, we perform far better.When Roberto Goizuet a took over as CEO of
Coca-Cola in the 1980s, he was faced with intense competition from Pepsi
that was eating into Coke`s growth.
His executives were Pepsi-focussed and intent on increasing market share 0.1
per cent a time.Goizueta decided to stop competing against Pepsi and
instead compete against the situation of 0.1 percent growth. He asked his
executives what was the average fluid intake of an American per day?The
answer was 14 ounces. What was Coke`s share of that? Two ounces.Goizueta
said Coke needed a larger share of that market.
The competition wasn`t Pepsi. It was the water, tea, coffee, milk and fruit
juices that went into the remaining 12 unces. The public should reach for a
Coke whenever they felt like drinking something.To this end,Coke put up
vending machines at every street corner.Sales took a quantum jump and Pepsi
has never quite caught up since.To sum up, the story of the hare and
tortoise teaches us many things.
Chief among them are that fast and consistent will always beat slow &
steady;work to your competencies;pooling resources and working as a team
will always beat individual performers; never give up when faced
with failure;and finally, compete against the situation - not against a
rival.
Regards
Arun
Once upon a time a tortoise & a hare had an argument about who was faster.
They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a route
and started off the race. The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some
time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he`d
sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race.
He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodding on
overtook him & soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ.
The hare woke up and realized that he`d lost the race. The moral of the
story is that slow and steady wins the race. This is the version of the
story that we`ve all grown up with!! But then recently,someone told me a
more interesting version of this story.It continues.The hare was
disappointed at losing the race & he did some soul-searching. He
realized that he`d lost the race only because he had been
overconfident,careless and lax.If he had not taken things for
granted,there`s no way the tortoise could have beaten him.
So he challenged the tortoise to another race.The tortoise agreed.This
time,the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish.
He won by several miles.
The moral of the story? Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and
steady. If you have two people in your organisation,one slow,methodical and
reliable,and the other fast and still reliable at what he does,the fast and
reliable chap will consistently climb the organisational ladder faster than
the slow, methodical chap.It`s good to be slow and steady; but it`s better
to be fast and reliable.But the story doesn`t end here.The tortoise did some
thinking this time & realized that there`s no way he can beat the hare in a
race the way it was currently formatted.
He thought for a while,and then challenged the hare to another race, but on
a slightly different route.The hare agreed. They started off.In keeping
with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off
and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was
a couple of kilometres on the other side of the river.The hare sat there
wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundled along, got
into the river, swam to the opposite bank,continued walking and finished the
race.The moral of the story?
First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to
suit your core competency.In an organisation, if you are a good speaker,
make sure you create opportunities to give presentations that enable the
senior management to notice you.If your strength is analysis, make sure you
do some sort of research,make a report and send it upstairs.Working to your
strengths will not only get you noticed, but will also create opportunities
for growth & advancement.
The story still hasn`t ended.The hare & the tortoise, by this time, had
become pretty good friends and they did some thin king together. Both
realized that the last race could have been run much better.So they decided
to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time.They started off &
this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank.
There,the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back.On
the opposite bank,the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the
finishing line together.They both felt a greater sense of satisfaction than
they`d felt earlier.The moral of the story? It`s good to be individually
brilliant and to have strong core competencies; but unless you`re able to
work in a team and harness each other`s core competencies, you`ll always
perform below par because there will always be situations at which you`ll
do poorly and someone else does well.
Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership,letting the person with the
relevant core competency for a situation take leadership.There are more
lessons to be learnt from this story.
Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise gave up after failures.The hare
decided to work harder and put in more effort after his failure.The tortoise
changed his strategy because he was already working as hard as he could.In
life,when faced with failure,sometimes it is appropriate to work harder and
put in more effort.Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy and try
something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to do both.
The hare & the tortoise also learnt another vital lesson.When we stop
competing against a rival and instead start competing against the
situation, we perform far better.When Roberto Goizuet a took over as CEO of
Coca-Cola in the 1980s, he was faced with intense competition from Pepsi
that was eating into Coke`s growth.
His executives were Pepsi-focussed and intent on increasing market share 0.1
per cent a time.Goizueta decided to stop competing against Pepsi and
instead compete against the situation of 0.1 percent growth. He asked his
executives what was the average fluid intake of an American per day?The
answer was 14 ounces. What was Coke`s share of that? Two ounces.Goizueta
said Coke needed a larger share of that market.
The competition wasn`t Pepsi. It was the water, tea, coffee, milk and fruit
juices that went into the remaining 12 unces. The public should reach for a
Coke whenever they felt like drinking something.To this end,Coke put up
vending machines at every street corner.Sales took a quantum jump and Pepsi
has never quite caught up since.To sum up, the story of the hare and
tortoise teaches us many things.
Chief among them are that fast and consistent will always beat slow &
steady;work to your competencies;pooling resources and working as a team
will always beat individual performers; never give up when faced
with failure;and finally, compete against the situation - not against a
rival.
Regards
Arun
