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Thread: please spend 2 min on reading this..u will not regret!

  1. #1

    please spend 2 min on reading this..u will not regret!

    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

  2. #2
    Dear Vichitra
    very nice thought- keep it up
    Jay Jawan Jay Kisan Jay Shaheed

  3. #3
    Dear Vichitra,

    Thanks. Very nicely explained. Yes, we do need to follow these lessons to achieve success. Well done, keep it up.
    Col (Retd) Virendra Tavathia


    "A person should not be judged by the nature of his/her job, but the manner in which he/she does that".

  4. #4
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    Dear Vichitra
    Sometime in the future some onewill institute an international award for H.R. When they do, the world will start to look around for suitable receipents. If ever you decide to make a future for yourself in HR or HRD I have strong feeling that today we are all looking at astrong candidate for that award in the future.
    Best wishes

    Amit

    P.S. I use this anecdote in some of my training programmes but I must confess that you tell it much better.

  5. #5
    Dear Vichitra;
    wat r u doing , this is great! great thinking Pl keep it up
    SANJAY MALIK\nKEEP IN TOUCH!!!!!

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