Attended a top level day long “brainstorming session” of concerned
executives of large successful corporation. Needless to say, the topic
was how to stay relevant, get back the lost glories, innovate faster and
be nimble in execution.
First two hours of the session was fairly chaotic. An over abundance of knowledge and awareness on everyone's part, of whats wrong with the current system. That clearly showed “what we doing wrong” is what the smaller, nimbler players of today are "doing right". Our sense of inadequacy had one source. Comparison with what is helping the nimble to succeed.
One small fable of the wise started floating in my thoughts !
In a small swampy green patch of earth, lived a centipede. Very elegant in its walk and a slender, smooth body to navigate through the small holes of the ant hill - it never had dearth of food. The place had a long supply of small insects.
It owned that patch of earth.
One fine morning, after a bout of shower, when the centipede walked out of an ant hill, it saw new creature.
A small, happy, jumpy, frog with green shiny skin !
The centipede owned the land. Had a lot of confidence, to the level of arrogance. It saw ONE big weakness in the frog.
Only four legs ??? How can the poor thing survive in this brutal world ?
However, before the centipede completed it thought, the frog jumped quickly, in a blink of an eye, threw it long tongue and captured many small insects in one swift move those were literally kept in the breakfast platter for the centipede.
The first reaction was fear. The fear of frog out there.
But that was not the real damage.
After licking its tongue and savoring the food, the frog came to the centipede and said - “How do you even walk with those many legs ? Which one you put ahead of the other ? How do you co-ordinate ? May be that's why you are so slow”.
That was the real damage. Something the centipede had done all its life and thought it did so well, was shattered in its brain.
Self doubts clouded it. Its 100 legs stumbled up in each other and it came to a stand still. Frozen state !!!
The patch of earth belonged to the frog.
Up until one day, the dying and starving centipede, got over its self doubt. Prized its own 100 legs, and innovated wings.
The “Flying centipede” went in side the ant hill and haunted outside too as quickly as the frog did.
So, all large corporations with solid assets, when they are threatened by the quick and the focused, need to remember 3 things.
- Do not under estimate the new and the nimble
- Do not be afraid and get in to a self destructive state of freeze
- And innovate something unique, not copy the quick
(Snippets from author’s pre-published book “Fables Ltd” - you may use these stories duly acknowledging the source)
First two hours of the session was fairly chaotic. An over abundance of knowledge and awareness on everyone's part, of whats wrong with the current system. That clearly showed “what we doing wrong” is what the smaller, nimbler players of today are "doing right". Our sense of inadequacy had one source. Comparison with what is helping the nimble to succeed.
One small fable of the wise started floating in my thoughts !
In a small swampy green patch of earth, lived a centipede. Very elegant in its walk and a slender, smooth body to navigate through the small holes of the ant hill - it never had dearth of food. The place had a long supply of small insects.
It owned that patch of earth.
One fine morning, after a bout of shower, when the centipede walked out of an ant hill, it saw new creature.
A small, happy, jumpy, frog with green shiny skin !
The centipede owned the land. Had a lot of confidence, to the level of arrogance. It saw ONE big weakness in the frog.
Only four legs ??? How can the poor thing survive in this brutal world ?
However, before the centipede completed it thought, the frog jumped quickly, in a blink of an eye, threw it long tongue and captured many small insects in one swift move those were literally kept in the breakfast platter for the centipede.
The first reaction was fear. The fear of frog out there.
But that was not the real damage.
After licking its tongue and savoring the food, the frog came to the centipede and said - “How do you even walk with those many legs ? Which one you put ahead of the other ? How do you co-ordinate ? May be that's why you are so slow”.
That was the real damage. Something the centipede had done all its life and thought it did so well, was shattered in its brain.
Self doubts clouded it. Its 100 legs stumbled up in each other and it came to a stand still. Frozen state !!!
The patch of earth belonged to the frog.
Up until one day, the dying and starving centipede, got over its self doubt. Prized its own 100 legs, and innovated wings.
The “Flying centipede” went in side the ant hill and haunted outside too as quickly as the frog did.
So, all large corporations with solid assets, when they are threatened by the quick and the focused, need to remember 3 things.
- Do not under estimate the new and the nimble
- Do not be afraid and get in to a self destructive state of freeze
- And innovate something unique, not copy the quick
(Snippets from author’s pre-published book “Fables Ltd” - you may use these stories duly acknowledging the source)
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