> 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 realised that he'd lost the race.

> The moral of the tory is that slow and steady wins the

> race.

>

> This is the version of the story that we've all grown

> up with.

>

> But then recently, someone told me a more interesting

> version of this story. It continues.

>

> The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he

> did some soul-searching. He realised 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 of the story? Fast and consistent will

> always beat the slow and steady. If you have two

> people in your organisation, 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 organisational 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. The tortoise did some

> thinking this time, and realised that there's no way

> he can beat the hare in a race the way it was

> currently formatted. He 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 of the story? First identify your core

> competency and then change the playing field to suit

> your core competency.

>

> In an organisation, if you are a good speaker, make

> sure you create opportunities to give presentations

> that enable the senior management to notice you. if

> your strength is analysis, make sure you do some sort

> of research, make a report and send it upstairs.

> Working to your strengths will not only get you

> noticed, but will also create opportunities for

> growth and advancement.

>

> 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 realised 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 of the story? 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. There are more

> lessons to be learnt from this story.

>

> 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. Sometimes it is appropriate to

> change strategy and try something different. 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.

>

> When Roberto Goizueta took over as CEO of Coca-Cola in

> the 1980s, he was faced with intense competition from

> Pepsi that was eating into Coke's growth. His

> executives were Pepsi-focussed and intent on

> increasing market share 0.1 per cent a time.

>

> Goizueta decided to stop competing against Pepsi and

> instead compete against the situation of 0.1 per cent

> growth. He asked his executives what was the

> average fluid intake of an American per day? The

> answer was 14 ounces. What was Coke's share of that?

> Two ounces. Goizueta said Coke needed a larger

> share of that market. The competition wasn't Pepsi. It

> was the water, tea, coffee, milk and fruit juices that

> went into the remaining 12 ounces. The public should

> reach for a 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. To sum up, the

> story of the hare and tortoise teaches us many things.

>

> Chief among them are that fast and consistent will

> always beat slow and steady; work to your

> competencies; pooling resources and working as a team

> will always beat individual performers; never give up

> when faced with failure; and finally, compete against

> the situation - not against a rival.

 

source: forwarded mail form my dad.