New Story of The Hare and Tortoise

CAC Management Consultants International
New Story of the Hare and Tortoise

Brought to you by:
An international executive development consultancy in the Asia
Pacific Region, specialised in providing training to corporations
and outplacement consulting.
www.cacmci.com 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. They agreed on a route and started
off the race.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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This is the version of the story that we've

all grown up with.
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But then recently, someone told me a

more interesting version of this story. It
continues.
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The hare was disappointed at losing the

race and he did some Defect Prevention
(Root Cause Analysis). He realized that
he'd lost the race only because he had
been overconfident, careless and lax.
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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.
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This time, the hare went all out and ran

without stopping from start to finish. He
won by several miles.
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The moral of the story ？ Fast and

consistent will always beat the slow and
steady.
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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.
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It's good to be slow and steady; but it's

better to be fast and reliable.
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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.
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He thought for a while, and then

challenged the hare to another race, but
on a slightly different route.
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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.
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The finishing line was a couple of

kilometers on the other side of the river.
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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.
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The moral of the story? First identify

your core competency and then change
the playing field to suit your core
competency.
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In an organization, if you are a good

speaker, make sure you create
opportunities to give presentations that
enable the senior management to notice
you.
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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.
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The story still hasn't ended.
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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.
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So they decided to do the last race

again, but to run as a team this time.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Teamwork is mainly about situational

leadership, letting the person with the
relevant core competency for a situation
take leadership.
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There are more lessons to be learnt from

this story.
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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.
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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.
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Sometimes it is appropriate to change

strategy and try something different. And
sometimes it is appropriate to do both.
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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.
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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.
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His executives were Pepsi-focussed and

intent on increasing market share 0.1 per
cent a time.
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Goizueta decided to stop competing

against Pepsi and instead compete
against the situation of 0.1 per cent
growth.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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To sum up, the story of the hare and tortoise teaches us

many things.
Important lessons 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.
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In Short, BE STRATEGIC!
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New Story of The Hare and Tortoise

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CAC Management Consultants International

New Story of the Hare and Tortoise

Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare

The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for

He sat under the tree and soon fell

The hare woke up and realized that he'd

This is the version of the story that we've

But then recently, someone told me a

The hare was disappointed at losing the

If he had not taken things for granted,

This time, the hare went all out and ran

The moral of the story ？ Fast and

If you have two people in your organization,

It's good to be slow and steady; but it's

But the story doesn't end here. The

He thought for a while, and then

The hare agreed. They started off. In

The finishing line was a couple of

The hare sat there wondering what to do.

The moral of the story? First identify

In an organization, if you are a good

If your strength is analysis, make sure

The story still hasn't ended.

The hare and the tortoise, by this time,

So they decided to do the last race

They started off, and this time the hare

On the opposite bank, the hare again

The moral of the story? It's good to be

Teamwork is mainly about situational

There are more lessons to be learnt from

Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise

The tortoise changed his strategy

Sometimes it is appropriate to change

The hare and the tortoise also learnt

When Roberto Goizueta took over as

His executives were Pepsi-focussed and

Goizueta decided to stop competing

He asked his executives what was the

The competition wasn't Pepsi. It was the

To this end, Coke put up vending

To sum up, the story of the hare and tortoise teaches us

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