Animal Lessons Part II

The Monkey

For me, monkeys are the epitome of what I should not do. I find that, in real life, our mind is the monkey. It  is restless and difficult to predict. Many times it causes trouble and leads us into serious trouble. Like monkeys, we keep somersaulting, never focused, always searching, always jealous, imagining fears that didn’t exist and ignoring those that did. “I have no clue and fear those that speak so I follow whatever they say, changing my mind every single day”.

For me, in Business, the three monkeys depicted by Ghandiji have a negative teaching as well – what not to do. And these three monkeys give birth to a fourth one. All together, they are the ruin of business, of leaders and of employees. 

These four monkeys sometimes run our businesses. And we allow them to, nay, invite them to. We may not recognize them, so below is a reflection. 

Monkey no 1: “I do not want to see”
Businesses are organizations of people. And people by nature are averse to accepting bad news, bad feedback or criticism. It really all depends on the business leader – does he encourage openness and transparency of thought or is he autocratic and does not expect people to speak their minds. In businesses that don’t want to see, you often find a culture of fear and finger pointing.
Not wanting to see the reality will not change it. Since our natural tendency maybe to avoid facing bad situations, if we do not purposely see and address it, we will soon be engulfed and sucked into the problem, as a victim , instead as a challenger.
Monkey No 2 : “I do not wish to listen”
The majority of businesses are unable to listen. Simply, because they never did and don’t see the use of it. They don’t seem to care about their employees or their customers or their business partners. They are always in the aggression mode, defending what they have left.
Listening to others requires a will and an effort. It is a positive aspect of business building; based on feedback, suggestions, news and most of all impending and changing desires and needs of the market. When we do not listen, we will soon be out of the reckoning. That is for sure !
Monkey No 3 : “I do not wish to speak”
In partnership with monkey no 2, this third monkey is distinguished by his lack of confidence and motivation and absolute fear of criticism. It is also true of managers and employees (and some leaders ?) Since it was not in their JD, they are not supposed to. Nor are they encouraged to acquire the space and freedom to be creative, think, listen and speak their mind because they are  defined by those that do not see or listen.
If we do not speak, our creativity, our intelligence quotient and our competence to achieve goals is greatly diminished.
And finally, if we allow these three monkeys to ride on our back , we finally have a fourth and deadliest one :
Monkey No 4: “I cannot act”
Having spent a lot of time in sanctuaries and  jungles, one observation was more profound. If a lion or a tiger stands beneath tree full of monkeys and roars, one or two will definitely drop off the branches. The fear of the cat freezes the otherwise active creatures into complete inaction. And that inaction causes them to lose their life.
Are we letting these three monkeys become so heavy on our backs that out of fear of consequences we freeze into inaction ? This is a very common and main problem in life and in business.
If I do not act in the right manner, at the right time, with the right people, I am preparing my business to be dog food for sure!
In conclusion,
WE HAVE TO GET THOSE MONKEYS OFF OUR BACKS !

Animal Lessons - Part I

The eagle

Flying over the storm – Alone !

Unlike humans and other animal species, the Eagle rises up to face the storm and flies high above it, at altitudes no other birds can fly. It does not choose to remain or take shelter with other flocks. Unlike other animal and bird species, storms actually excite an Eagle. Its life performance thrives and it’s best abilities surface.

Like the Eagle if we choose to do something great in life, we must learn to rise up over our challenges to overcome! Use life's storm to be better, wiser, greater, wealthier and healthier.

The Eagle has  Vision

Flying high above, the Eagle can capture objects 2-3 miles down. No matter how many issues it faces the Eagle stays focused and does not lose sight of it’s prey. We will always face dissent and arguments, but in spite of it all,  we should not lose focus of our goals.

The Eagle rejuvenates itself.

When the Eagle feels weak, exhausted and dying it retires to a high mountain top cave or shelter. No to die, but to shed off their older feathers, break their older beaks and also remove their old talons.

They then grow a  new beak, new feathers and new talons. New life tools for them. Thus in six months, they are “re-born”. Renewed. Strengthened to overcome great challenges again. Like the Eagle we too must rejuvenate. Stale information must be discarded and new things learned. Old habits must be changed to cater to the changing world. We need to adapt to our changing environment, imbibe the knowledge of new life tools and respond to the new life challenges. 

The Eagle Tests Before it  Trust

The female eagle subjects the male eagle to vigorous testing before allowing the male to mate with her. When we want to partner or enter some  kind of agreement with others, we should test the commitment of people before we trust them with our time and resources.

The Eagles prepare with Training

Young eagles have been known to learn how to fly by observing how their parents fly. At first, parent eagle prompts them to fly by holding food in their beaks while flying around the nest. This usually makes the young ones to fly out of the nest and this is repeated till they become perfect. Second, to train it to fly high, parent eagles take the baby eagle to a mountain top at high altitude to prepare it for the challenge of flying at great heights. When the baby eagle is released, the free fall at first is frightening but the mother eagle soon comes to the rescue and the process is repeated again until the baby eagle can fly alone at high altitude in the manner of the parents.

Challenges of life are a constant. These challenges are our training period for higher responsibilities. The better we are at managing our battles in life, the wiser and more responsible we become. Preparation is vital for future success.

Animal Lessons

God may have made Man the master over all the creatures of this world, but we can yet learn quite a few management lessons from animals. My ideals are three – the Eagle which teaches me to soar over the storm and survive; the Monkey who teaches me what NOT to do; and finally the Fish (which also happens to be my birth sign).

I would like to share my Management learning from these three, over three parts in this blog. 

Part I – The Eagle

Part II – The Monkey

Part III- The Fish

Hope these writings can excite and motivate the readers as well as they have me.