Does a Successful Zebra Need His Stripes?
Posted by Chuck McKay on December 23, 2008
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Imagine you’re a lion. It’s dawn on the Serengeti, and you’re hungry.
Off in the distance is a herd of zebra. You’re down wind. You can smell the herd but they can’t smell you. You crouch closely to the earth, stealthily move closer, your padded feet not making a sound.
The zebra slowly mingle in the herd. Your only hope of catching one is to single it out from the rest, but which? The stripes of one blend seamlessly into the stripes of the next, creating a vermiculite tapestry of white and black. How do you focus on any individual when you can’t determine where one begins and the other ends?
Wait. What’s that? One zebra is grazing apart from the others. You can see every detail. It’s nostrils contract with each inhale and expand as each breath leaves its body. You watch its tail idly swatting at flies as it slowly steps forward to reach the next succulent blade of grass.
You are now focused on the one, rather than being confused by the many.
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The Right Pond Makes the Bait Work Better
Posted by Mike Keesee on November 20, 2008
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Abraham Lincoln must have have been highly accomplished with a hook and cane pole. It’s a rational conclusion when one appreciates his deep understanding of both strategy and tactics.
For many of us, the terms are intertwined, frequently interchanged, and often confused.
Strategy and tactics. Tactics and strategy. Like so many terms in business, these have come from the military. Strategy is the planning of the grand scheme of how to win the war. Tactics are the planning of individual battles. Strategy is a decision of what to do. Tactics are choosing how to do it. Tactics constantly change. Strategy does not.
Fishermen instinctively understand the best bait in the world won’t work when you drop your hook into a pond without fish. Choosing the right fishing hole is strategy. Selecting the bait is a tactic.
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The Owl and the Ant
Posted by Chuck McKay on November 1, 2008
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One day an ant stopped carrying food into the anthill, and paused to look around. The other ants kept scurrying around him intent in their tasks, but this ant, call him … Anthony… this ant found himself questioning why he and all of the other ants never stopped working.
He glanced at a couple of crickets playing leap cricket. “Crickets never seem to work at all,” he noticed. Then he wondered,“Why is it that we ants never take a break, while crickets play games all day long?”
Anthony pondered the state of his life as he picked up his load and continued toward the anthill, but he couldn’t put the thought out of his mind. The thought of those crickets who seemed to enjoy life so much more than any ant ever did. Read more