vichitra
November 2nd, 2002, 07:31 PM
lengthy one. but, worth reading !
Once upon a time a tortoise and 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 and soon finished the race, emerging as the
undisputed champ.
The hare woke up and realised 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 and he did
some
soul-searching. He realised 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, and realised 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 and
advancement.
The story still hasn> '> t ended.
The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty
good friends and
they did some thinking together. Both realised 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, and 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 and 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.
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 and 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.
"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."
Albert Einstein
Once upon a time a tortoise and 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 and soon finished the race, emerging as the
undisputed champ.
The hare woke up and realised 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 and he did
some
soul-searching. He realised 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, and realised 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 and
advancement.
The story still hasn> '> t ended.
The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty
good friends and
they did some thinking together. Both realised 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, and 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 and 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.
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 and 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.
"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."
Albert Einstein