Tortoise and Hare The Story Doesn't End Here...
Inspirational Story: Tortoise and Hare The Story Doesn't End Here...
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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 as follows.....
.
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 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 -"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.
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
1) Fast and consistent will always beat slow and steady;
2) Work to your competencies;
3) Pooling resources and Working as a team will always beat individual
performers;
4) Never give up when faced with failure;
5) And finally, compete against the situation - not against a rival.
What matters today is not the difference between those who believe and
those who do not believe, but the difference between those who care and
those who don't.
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