The Tortoise and the Hare (extended version) on Teamwork

Last June 26, 2011 I was invited to talk for a few minutes in front of our guests at the Cashflow Game and Millionaire Mind Gathering about what I've gotten by being part of Create Abundance Business Community. To keep the crowd entertained, I had to channel the Coach Warren inside of me (who loves to make stories using animals, by the way :) and at the same time make them get a taste of what to expect by being part of the community, I narrated one of Aesop's well-known fables, "The Tortoise and the Hare," but added more to the usual story which I came across the internet a few months ago. Here is the famous story with its extended parts and lessons in business:

This is an age old fable of the tortoise and hare race. Everyone knows who won the race or do you? Well, recently I heard a new version of this story with a new twist. Read this inspirational teamwork story with lessons in teamwork from an age old fable.

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1. 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. The tortoise and hare both 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 story is that slow and steady wins the race. This is the version of the story that we've all grown up with.

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2. But then recently, someone told me a more interesting version of this tortoise and hare story. It continues.
The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching. He realized 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? In business, fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady. If you don't act with a sense of urgency, you will get left behind.

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3. 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 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. The tortoise and hare 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 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? Don't over-analyze and over-think. Just take action.

The story still hasn't ended.

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4. The tortoise and hare, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realized that the last race could have been run much better. So the tortoise and hare 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. Both the tortoise and hare felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they'd felt earlier.

The moral of the story? Teamwork works. It's good to be individually brilliant; but unless you're able to work with a team and harness each other's core strengths, you'll always perform below par because there will always be situations at which you'll do poorly and someone else does well.

Note that neither the tortoise and hare 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. Maybe in your current situation you are always working hard but never winning the race. Maybe it's time to look back and change your strategy.

But the greatest lesson I've learned here is that in terms of building wealth, the power of a team is very important. The members of the community are either tortoises or hares (no pun intended :), but the thing is, WE WORK TOGETHER. The businesses we teach here are entirely different from the cultures of corporate employment and traditional business, where it is more of a dog-eat-dog, survival of the fittest kind of thing. In employment, to be promoted, you must perform better than the rest (or be a better ass-kisser :). In traditional business, would you teach your business strategies, models, etc. to another businessman? I don't think so.

Here in Create Abundance, it's a different world, and I love it because it matches my core values. We highly value the power of leverage, of forming teams and creating win-win situations. This could be a reason why we Filipinos only excel at individual sports (billiards, boxing) but not in team sports because we lack teamwork. And here all members are either tortoises or hares, but the best part is that everyone is working together towards crossing the finish line.

These are some of the lessons I've learned while being a volunteer business coach of this wonderful community. So if you feel that you're a tortoise or rabbit but you somehow can't find a way to win the race of your life, maybe it's time for a "rematch." :)

First step: Sign up at our website: www.ca2020.net and kindly indicate that you were invited by Coach Alwyn Sy. Attend our free wealth courses which could help you get that "entrepreneurial mindset" to get ready for battle. For more info, just send an email to coach.alwynsy@yahoo.com.