The Wisdom of the Giraffe......

"You don't need crutches, if you fall, your elbows and knees put you back on your feet!" - UG Krishnamurti.

Schooling of Baby Giraffes 

Baby giraffes never go to school. But they learn a very important lesson rather early in life.

A lesson that all of us would do well to remember.

The birth of a baby giraffe is quite an earth-shaking event.  The baby falls from its mother’s womb, some eight feet above the ground. It shrivels up and lies still, too weak to move.

The mother giraffe lovingly lowers her neck to smooch the baby giraffe.  And then something unbelievable happens.

She lifts her long leg and kicks the baby giraffe, sending it flying up in the air and tumbling down on the ground.

As the baby lies curled up, the mother kicks the baby again and again until the baby giraffe, still trembling and tired, pushes its limbs and for the first time learns to stand on its feet.

Happy to see the baby standing on its own feet, the mother giraffe comes over and gives it yet another kick.

The baby giraffe falls one more time, but now quickly recovers and stands up.

Mama Giraffe is delighted.

She knows that her baby has learnt an important lesson:

Never mind how hard you fall, always remember to pick yourself up and get back on your feet.

Why does the mother giraffe do this? She knows that lions and leopards love giraffe meat.

So unless the baby giraffe quickly learns to stand and run with the pack – it will have no chance of survival. Most of us though are not quite as lucky as baby giraffes.

No one teaches us to stand up every time we fall. When we fail, when we are down, we just give up. No one kicks us out of our comfort zone to remind us that to survive and succeed, we need to learn to get back on our feet.

If you study the lives of successful people though, you will see a recurring pattern.

Were they always successful in all they did? No.  Did success come to them quick and easy? No, you will find that the common streak running through their lives is their ability to stand up every time they fall. The ability of the baby giraffe!

The road to success is never an easy one.

There are several obstacles, and you are bound to fall sooner or later.

You will hit a road block, you will taste failure.

But success lies in being able to get up every time you fall.

That’s a critical life skill. And it’s the habit of all successful people.

(Source: World Wide Web)

Leaders and the Giraffe Vision

Here is the native wisdom from the great land of Kenya where the human race is believed to have originated according to the anthropologists.

Difference between managers and leaders?

Managers are great planners, efficient strategists and executives. They can grow the TREE (the company), they know its branches (various business units and their functioning), water its roots (manage their units and teams ) and take care of fruits ( ensure profitability). They plan according to the Business Cycles (Q1 to Q4).

But leaders are a class apart!

They possess the GIRAFFE VISION!

Leaders look ahead beyond quarterly results! They are not worried about Q1, Q2,…

They look beyond the TREE out into the distance. Like the Giraffe!

Leaders look at the forest (entire business landscape) like the Giraffe. They know where the hills (road-blocks) are, valleys (traps) are, woods (opportunities) are and rivers (resources) are, far out into the distance! They possess the VISION - the vision of the Giraffe.

The FOREST VIEW gives the LEADER the BIG picture!

Managers are focused on profits, true leaders on values! Managers are obsessed about staff and productivity, leaders think of people and prosperity!

Great companies not only claim great productivity and profitability but also create great prosperity for the entire community!

(Shared by kind Kenyan colleagues)