Hare and the Tortoise

Since childhood we have been hearing stories. When it comes from the older people or seniors in hierarchy, it is termed as “gyan” or “knowledge”, and when the direction is reverse, it is mostly termed as “excuse”. All of us suddenly become very creative with stories, especially when tasked. At school or at work, it had not made much difference. We tell stories to substantiate why it didn’t work.

Thanks to Indranil Chakraborty, who seeded this thought through his book “Stories at Work”. He impresses on highly effective communication of mundane things at work, including data, through stories. He struck chord with me. From stories-not-to-work to stories-at-work and now hear me for the stories-to-work.

At one point, citing the Hare and Tortoise story, Indranil shows how “Skill-sets alone cannot guarantee Success”. True. This parable, that we have loved to hear a thousand times, is here again, on a different perspective. Here, I am brooding on this thought seeded by him, and building on..

The Race

One of those television soaps, could be aired for years. The most unreal competition that could be imagined. The audience in the forest weren’t much different from those of today, who are glued to their TV sets. Some watch regional content, others boast of watching online channels, but believe me, all are the same. The Race we are discussing has earned the highest TRP for all ages and continue to be re-telecast regularly, passing down from generations to generations. The most successful Tele-Serial.

The Tortoise

He is a wrong hire in the first place. The Talent Acquisition Team is to be blamed. He might have won the race, winning on the mistakes of his rival. We could find many such misfits around us. How low and demotivated he would have felt at the Start of the Race. While I must certainly applaud and appreciate the Tortoise for such persistence against odds, enduring and winning his race, my advise to the Tortoise is.. Dude, move on, this is not your cup of tea. If the job-market is at a recession, like it is today, I might avoid this advise and suggest to him to work on himself. Upgrade himself, visit some Gym in the neighborhood. But very clearly, he should be fully aware of his own skill-sets and build on them. Before entering into a competition, he must know the skill-sets of his competitor too.

The Hare

One of those super efficient, in the context of Racing. Bubbling with energy, elevated manifold by the chances of his success, comparing himself with his lesser competitor. This High on energy soon touched the Bottom by under-playing his potential. It is natural to lose motivation to perform, especially when the peers are less-skilled and all being evaluated on the same KRAs (key-result-areas). I do not fully blame the Hare for losing the race. After all, with poor competition, the head tends to grow heavy.

The Lion

If one has to be The Lion (King), one must know the skill-set of each member and continuously engage and employ their skills to benefit the Forest (Society). Motivation is a small word with very strong implications. This can move mountains when nurtured and get stuck at every mole-hill, when not maintained.

Time Value For Money

The very Race, in Operations parlance, is a humongous waste. A Task, which could have ended in minutes, had taken hours to complete, failing the better skilled Hare against a slower Tortoise. Had we considered the Time-Value for money, it was the most inefficient exercise ever recorded in History.

Moral of the Story

Are you the Tortoise?

Finding yourself to be like the Tortoise in the current Role ? If the expectations from you is far higher than your strengths. Think. Whether you can upgrade (going to the Gym) yourself, or should be looking out for something that befits you. Do not get me wrong, you must work on improving your capabilities. My caution is that you must have clearly identified your key strengths and weaknesses and decide basis such clarity. Should not be wasting energies in the wrong areas.

Are you the Hare ?

If you consider yourself to be a Hare, are you delivering your full potential. Do not get demotivated or misguided by the lesser-competition. You are designed for a higher objective and so be it. Keep working on your self, every muscle that you can build on. Every Today must be Better than the Yesterdays.

Are you the Lion ?

Be aware of what is going around. Whiling time away on Races, isn’t productive task, unless it is done once a while as an Engagement Activity by the HR. Even then, the competition should be designed for equals. Take stock of all the skill-sets available to you. All Animals are graceful beings in their own right. Just like the Fish can’t Fly, there are others with their inherited impediments. Please be double-sure before hiring, to match the talent with the Role. From the existing members, if somebody is beyond economical repair (BER), do not hesitate to weed them out. This is important to protect the Forest. Again, there is no Lion without a Forest. The Forest thrives only with all Animals in it. As The Lion, it is your responsibility to have the right mix, so that The Balance (eco-system) is maintained for the benefit of all.

Unable to make who, or are you the Audience ?

If you are still watching the spectacle called The Race, please move. Are you still unable to make up your mind on whether you are the Hare or the Tortoise to your current role, God save you. On TV or in Life, you must Pay for Watching. You need to be working doubly hard on what you have, what is expected of you and how to bridge the gap. You need to be working on something that you need to be working on. If the gap is huge, instead of wasting your time here, move on. There is so much To Do.

Re-presenting this “Story To Work”. Think through..