The Law Of The (Work) Jungle

Thousands of miles from here,deep in the heart of the Serengetti National Park in northeastern Tanzania,the wildebeest run as a pack to make it harder for the attacking hyenas to pull any one of them down. The luckier of the herd are in the middle-- the best place to be for survival, whereas the ones on the outer flanks are the most vulnerable to being caught and eaten by their savage predators. They live a fast life, these flankers. They know that one slip and they’re a goner. Yet they also know that a hyena can only catch one wildebeest at a time, so the odds are good that they won’t be the one that fattens a hyena’s belly. Eventually, some of the middlers will find themselves out on the flanks. Those that have grown soft and slow from too much time in the middle will suffer the consequences of not having kept themselves in shape.

This got me wondering about how many of us get up every day and go to work to thrive rather than just survive? Indeed, how many of our workplaces today encourage people to push themselves, to take on challenges that could result in great success? People are reluctant to try something new for fear that, if not successful, they will lose stature in the organization and be held personally accountable for failing . Thus, individual initiative is subordinated to “groupthink”, and innovative ideas are stifled in the interest of “teamwork” (which is often code for “don’t rock the boat”). True, there are those companies where employees are rewarded for looking for ways to improve customer service, productivity, and sales. But even in these environments, employees still perceive that it is safer to “stay in the middle”.

In an era of global competition, it seems we are becoming a nation of middlers when we so desperately need more flankers. The false security of the bi-weekly paycheck will not protect us from being laid off. Even if we are excellent at what we do, there will always be a hyena out there looking for our job—someone who is faster, hungrier, and who will accomplish twice as much as we do at the same or lower salary.

With that thought, The Whisperer urges you to always stay nimble and creative in your thinking. It’s good hyena insurance.

Be well.
--TMW