Recently, I came across this popular Aesop Fable “The Hare and The Tortoise”. The story has been rewritten to explore more possible endings and new morals that can be relevant to the new generation. I think these morals are especially useful from a management perspective and worthy to share in the classroom too!
You may have heard the original version often. It goes like this–
One day, a Hare made fun of the Tortoise for being so slow.
“Do you ever get anywhere?” he mockingly asked.
“Yes,” the Tortoise replied, “and I arrive anywhere sooner than you think.” I’ll put you through a race to prove it.”
The Hare was amused by the prospect of competing in a race with the Tortoise, but he agreed for the sake of amusement.
The Hare was quickly out of sight. To make the Tortoise feel silly for challenging a Hare, he lay down beside the course and napped until the Tortoise caught up.
Meanwhile, the Tortoise kept moving slowly but steadily, and after a while, it passed the area where the Hare was sleeping. But the Hare slept peacefully on, and when he awoke, the Tortoise was close to the goal. The Hare now ran his fastest, but he couldn’t catch up to the Tortoise in time.
The moral is that slow and steady wins the race.
It implies that in order to succeed, one should not be the fastest or strongest, but rather the most consistent and dependable. The phrase literally refers to running/athletics, but it can be applied to almost any situation in which someone is attempting to accomplish something. According to the proverb, if someone works consistently toward a goal, they are more likely to achieve it. In contrast, someone who rushes towards their goal without considering all of the potential problems or the possibility of running out of steam is more likely to fail. Or, at the very least, have a more difficult time getting what they want.
However, this story now looks at what the Hare has learnt after the race. Read on, the second part gets even more interesting:
After losing the race, the rabbit pondered over his mistakes. He realised he’d lost the race because he had been overconfident, careless, and sloppy. The tortoise could not have beaten him if he had not taken things for granted. As a result, he challenged the tortoise to a new race. The tortoise concurred.
This time, the rabbit went all out and ran nonstop from beginning to end. He won by a huge margin.
The moral of the story? Fast and consistent always beats slow and steady. It’s good to be slow and steady, but it’s better to be fast and reliable.
In this day and age of globalisation, where millions of ideas, goods, and services cross borders in a fraction of a second, it would be more appropriate to change it to ‘quick but steady wins the race.’ In a race, both time and technique are important. And it is at this juncture that the role of steadiness comes into play. Consistency needs patience, foresight, firm belief in fundamental principles, and dedication to achieving goals. Speed without consistency is erratic. It not only leads to unfinished agendas, a waste of resources and time, but it also undermines trust and belief in one’s own abilities.
But the story doesn’t end just yet! The tortoise has to redeem itself too!
This time, the tortoise thought about it and realised he couldn’t beat the rabbit in a race the way it was currently set up. He paused for a moment before challenging the rabbit to another race, but on a slightly different route. The rabbit concurred.
They began the race promptly. In keeping with his self-imposed goal of being consistently fast, the rabbit took off and ran at full speed until he reached a wide river. The finish line was a few kilometres downstream on the other side of the river. The rabbit sat there, unsure of what to do. Meanwhile, the tortoise trudged along, entered the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking, and completed the race.
The moral of the story: Determine your core competency first, and then adjust the playing field to accommodate it. Utilize your strengths while limiting your exposure to your weaknesses.
The story hasn’t ended yet. Obviously, by now, the hare and tortoise are now friendly rivals, having grown from their time with each other.
The rabbit and the tortoise now started to reflect and think together. Both realised that the previous race could have been run much more efficiently.
So they decided to run the last race again, but this time as a team. They began, and this time the tortoise was carried to the riverbank by the rabbit. The tortoise took command and swam across, carrying the rabbit on his back. The rabbit carried the tortoise again on the opposite bank, and they both crossed the finish line together. They were both more satisfied than they had been previously.
The moral of the story? Collaborate!
It is advantageous to be an individual genius with strong core competencies. However, a single person can only accomplish so much. The sum of the whole will be greater than the sum of the parts if you can work as a team and leverage each other’s core competencies. Teamwork is largely about allowing the person with the relevant core competency for a situation to take the lead, isn’t it?
A four-part story! Wasn’t it thrilling to see how a simple fable can be transformed to teach us many things?! Both these characters, the hare and tortoise, leave us with so much to think about! Let me know in the comments what interpretations did you come up with!
The New Takeaways:
(1) The quick and consistent will have an advantage. Compete against the situation rather than against the competitor.
(2) Recognize your own strengths and weaknesses. Utilize your strengths while limiting your exposure to your weaknesses.
(3) Collect resources and collaborate as a group.
(4) Failures teach us more than successes.
very interesting sir, really enjoyed reading this:)
Thanks Sir!! There’s immense learning from this article.