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Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who is 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 and relax before resuming the race.  He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodding on overtook him and soon finished the race, emerging as an undisputed Champion.

This is the version of the story we’ve all grown up with. The moral of the story is slow and steady wins the race.

The story continues…. The hare was disappointed at losing the race and did some soul searching. He realized that he’d lost the race only because he was 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 for another race and the tortoise agreed. This time the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish and 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 organization, one slow, methodical and reliable and the other,  fast and reliable at what he does, the fast and reliable chap will  consistently climb the organizational ladder.

 

But the story doesn’t end here…. The tortoise did some thinking this time and realized that there’s no way he can beat the hare in a race, in the current format. He thought for a while and challenged the race for another race but on a slightly different route. The hare agreed.

 

They started off. In keeping with his self made commitment to be consistent and fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broader 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 of the story… First identify your core competency and change the playing field to suit your core competency.  Working to your strengths will not only get you noticed, but will also create opportunities for growth and advancement.

 

The story has not come to an end yet…. The hare and tortoise became friend by this time and did some good thinking together.  Both realized that the last race could have been much better.  They decided to run the race again but this time as a team.

 

They started off the race and this time the hare carried the tortoise till the river bank.  There the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on its back.  On the opposite bank the hare carried the tortoise and reached the finishing line together.

 

The moral of the story…. It is good to be individually brilliant and to have 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 be situations at which you’ll do poorly and someone else does well.

 

When Roberto Goizueta took over as CEO of Coca Cola in the 1980’s he was faced with intense competition from Pepsi that was eating into Coke’s growth.  His executives were Pepsi focused and intent on increasing its market share.

 

He asked his executives what was the average fluid intake of Americans per day? The answer was 14 ounces. What was Coke’s share? Two ounces. The competition was not Pepsi. It was the water, coffee, tea, milk and fruit juices. The public should reach 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.  

 
32 comments on "Old wine in a New Bottle"
thanks for sharing this article sir, its really good.
Gr8 Stuff Sir! Thanks!
  Commented by  Rathin Deb, Freelance Retail Consultant    | 05 23 2011 13:26:57 +0000
Excellent way the story has been retold with a meaning.
  Commented by  rakeshbhatnagar, GM Projects., wig brothers india pvt.ltd.    | 05 22 2011 17:48:17 +0000
excellent and good thinking must be adopted in our life/
  Commented by  Saibal Ray, Sr. QA Engineer, Infotech Enterprises    | 05 21 2011 16:24:22 +0000
The wine tasted real good...Please share if you still have lil' more of it...
  Commented by  Hemant V. Gore, Freelance Software Developer    | 05 21 2011 12:13:11 +0000
Excellent
Thank you Mr Muralidharan, I am elated and honoured. I don't think I am qualified enough even to sit beside Shri RK Narayan, the great man !
  Commented by  S. Muralidharan, Head, Project Planning/Strategy, Knowledge Foundation    | 05 21 2011 05:02:11 +0000
Excellent analogy!  Mr. Murthy, you have taken us back to our school days, explaining a very tough Management Topic - "Team Dynamics", even the best Behavioural Scientists err in their assessment in assessing individuals in a team.  Thanks for posting this nice story - I would term you as modern day "R.K. Narayan" - what a clarity!
  Commented by  Mathew Cherian, Research Associate/Analyst, Western Michigan University    | 05 20 2011 21:51:06 +0000
Setting aside personal prejudices and believes one need to work as a team to achieve goals set by the organization. I believe in western MBA courses if team cohesion is not maintained then one can loose ones shirt. So there it is incorporated in ones academia the conditioning helps them to continue in organizations. Ofcourse if one fails in academia due to lack of interpersonal skills then one is doomed and cannot reach work place to do anything other than odd jobs where too one has to learn the hard way like working McDonalds one is assigned chores which need be completed in a stipulated time while the clock running like in a production line otherwise the burger goes free to the customer and too many free burgers out can get you out of that job too in the short run.
  Commented by  Prashant Varshney, M.E/M.Tech/MS student, Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun    | 05 20 2011 16:17:53 +0000
Nice and inspirational story
  Commented by  Sujith Kumar S, Sr Technical Recruiter, AIM PLUS Staffing    | 05 20 2011 05:55:18 +0000
A very good and true inspiration story which makes people more motivated
  Commented by  RamaRao, Lead UI Engineer, Host Analytics    | 05 20 2011 05:12:29 +0000
Rating : +1 
Good one. thanks for sharing :)
  Commented by  sunil ghodke, Construction-Residential, TDL    | 05 20 2011 04:57:25 +0000
Thanks Ayan for referral!
  Commented by  Lisa, HR Manager, Confidential    | 05 20 2011 03:41:42 +0000
Good one. I have used this in my trainings on Team Work. I liked the other bit by Mr Bhatia
  Commented by  Hrudanand De, Assistant Manager (Modern Trade and Key Account) , ADF FOODS LTD    | 05 20 2011 01:43:19 +0000
Thanks for the refferal Mr Ayan is a very good story to get inspiration and put it in action to enhance our life skills 
  Commented by  akshaya bhatia, Program Manager (GM Projects-IT), fsl    | 05 20 2011 01:12:10 +0000
Good inspiring stories with appropriate lessons...May i add one more to this:-

A modern day hare wanted to square up the humiliation his ancestor met with defeat at race with tortoise. He challenged a tortoise once again. The tortoise knew that the hare will not commit the same mistake again, however he accepted the challenge. The race began. 

The hare ran as fast as he could without any break or rest but was astonished to find the tortoise ahead after covering each milestone. At the end the tortoise won, reached the goal before the swift Hare could...

How???

The tortoise collaborative with his family members. Before the the race started, he dug up the holes en-route and posted one of his family member resembling him at each of the hole. From each hole a tortoise started few steps till he saw the hare pass by and stopped later, thereafter his kin came out from his respective hole are started to take some steps similarly. In this way, ultimately the tortoise won to the astonishment of the hare without hare knowing the tactics the tortoise applied..

So, at time, application of mind, right strategy, good tactics and off-course the spirit of collaboration and collaboration win over the best of the talent and enterprise..!!!!..   

  
  Commented by  Nitin Mehra, Software Developer, ROBOMAN MICROSYSTEMS    | 05 19 2011 20:42:08 +0000
Sir, at that time both are sincere and honest so that tortoise didnt do anything with asleep rabit and rabit didnt do with tortoise. but story is different now. Every one is putting his leg in front of other to win the race. winning the race is not so simple in these days many other types of tricks are used to win the race and who will honest and steady found a defeat in these days
  Commented by  Raju V P, Head of Finance Information Systems, an International Bank    | 05 19 2011 18:12:38 +0000
Thanks for helping me recollect this story. This was one of the stories my ex-boss told me sometime ago.
  Commented by  Rohit Thakur, Sr. MEP QA/QC Engineer, QA/QC INCHARGE, CONSTRUCTION SPECIALIST-MEP    | 05 19 2011 17:23:55 +0000
thoughtful story!! thanks for referral..
  Commented by  vivekanand chaudhary, HR Executive, GeoReach Business Solutions    | 05 19 2011 17:13:30 +0000
Thank you for the referral, nice adaptation.
  Commented by  Anand Hisaria, Branch Manager/Regional Manager, Ceasefire Industries Limited    | 05 19 2011 16:34:09 +0000
Nice story to let someone understand the importance of Teamwork. Thanks for referral.
  Commented by  sudhakar, Head Markering, codezene (P) ltd    | 05 19 2011 16:15:06 +0000
Thanks for referral. Many good things can  b learnt from good old stories.
  Commented by  Hem Chandra Kukreti, Mktg, Bharat Electronics Ltd    | 05 19 2011 15:05:23 +0000
Nice story but now bottle is also not new. This was published in "Indian Management", many years ago. Thanks Ayan for referral.
  Commented by  SHRIKANT MANOHAR DANKE, Consultant, Project Management Consultancy Firm    | 05 19 2011 14:18:53 +0000
Simply Superb! 
Thanks , Murthy Sir for sharing it on TOOSTEP.& thanks Ayan for referral.
  Commented by  pruthviraja pande, Film maker, Fascinations communications    | 05 19 2011 13:56:21 +0000
Good old story to recollect-thanks for referral
  Commented by  KALIYAMOORTHY, Oil & Gas Area Coordinator, Undisclosed    | 05 19 2011 12:58:42 +0000
Yes, true Market analysis & survey does give improvement in business. On , properly understanding the trend & ensuring adequate corrective measures, proves always result-oriented.
Thanks for referral Mr. Ayan
  Commented by  Gargi Sinha, Senior Consultant, Hewitt Associates    | 05 19 2011 11:24:13 +0000
Very good insight sir, apt improvisation..
  Commented by  A.Parthasarathy, Head/VP/GM-Corporate Advisor, PL Engineering Ltd    | 05 19 2011 11:07:59 +0000
Old story modified and applied to the present environment. It is good. 
Its gr8.  Adaptability of the good old story to the newer areas is very good.  This story also tells us that u must have the adaptability techniques according to the circumstances to win the race/achieve the goal.  Well said. Thank u sir.  
  Commented by  Akhilesh S Joshi, India Coordinator, The Academy For Chief Executives    | 05 19 2011 09:59:28 +0000
A piece, worth learning, adapting and following. Tks For Sharing Mr. Suryanarayan Murthy.
  Commented by  Ganta Achuthan Sripathy, Consultant, Sripathy Consultancy Services    | 05 19 2011 09:21:13 +0000
Good Old story to remember....
old story in new sense on toostep, wow! thank u sir :)
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