Thought of the Day

A single day is enough to make us a little larger.

           -- Paul Klee

Thought of the Day

A man can do all things if he but wills them.

           -- Leon Battista Alberti

Thought of the Day

"If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative."

--Woody Allen

Thought of the Day

"We can have more than we've got because we can become more than we are."

--Jim Rohn

Thought of the Day

Life is like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope - a slight change, and all patterns alter.

           -- Sharon Salzberg

Thought of the Day

One man practicing sportsmanship is better than a hundred teaching it.

           -- Knute Rockne

Thought of the Day

"You can't have a better tomorrow if you're thinking about yesterday."

--Charles Kettering 

Thought of the Day

"Don't let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was."

--Richard Evans

Thought of the Day

"When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps."

--Confucius

Thought of the Day

"Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success."
--Joyce Brothers

Thought of the Day

"Nothing is Impossible, the word itself says, 'I'm Possible'!"

--Audrey Hepburn 

The Hare & The Tortoise: Old story New Learning

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 organization, 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       
organizational 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 awhile,  
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 kilometers 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 thinking 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 Goizueta 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 per cent 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 ounces. 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.  

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To sum up, the story of the hare and tortoise teaches us many things. 
Chief among them are;                                                 
 

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.