We received mixed response over our blog on benefits of lazy employees on different social media sites and through emails. Varying perceptions and understanding of that blog urged me to share this story. This also supports my point of innovation and improvisation.
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 of the story is that slow and steady wins the race.
This is the version of the story that we've all grown up with. But there occurred some more events after this race and it continues.
The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some analysis to identify reason of his failure. He realized that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless and lax. Had he 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 of the story is? 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 still reliable at what he does, the fast and reliable chap will consistently climb the organizational ladder faster than the slow, methodical chap. It's good to be slow and steady; but it's better to be fast and reliable. But the story doesn't end here. It went through further turns which I will discuss in my next blog. Wait till then…..
