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
realized that he'd lost the race.
The moral- "Slow and steady wins the race.
This is the version of the story that we've all grown up
with."
THE STORY DOESN'T END HERE, there are few more
interesting things.....it continues.....
The hare was disappointed at losing the race and 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 - " Fast and consistent will always beat the slow
and steady. It's good to be slow and steady; but it's better to be
fast and reliable."
THE STORY DOESN'T END HERE...
The tortoise did some thinking this time, and realized that there's
no way it can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently
formatted. It 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 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 - " First identify your core competency and then
change the playing field to suit your core competency."
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 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, 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 - "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.
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.
To sum up, the story of the hare and tortoise has much to say,
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.
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