"The Tortoise and the Hare" is one of Aesop's Fables. The story concerns a Hare who ridicules a slow-moving Tortoise. The moral is typically thought to be the idea that 'slow and steady wins the race', however this is not the only interpretation of the fable.
10th February 2024
Wikipedia extract:
“The Tortoise and the Hare” is one of Aesop’s Fables. The story concerns a Hare who ridicules a slow-moving Tortoise. Tired of the Hare’s arrogant behaviour, the Tortoise challenges him to a race. The hare soon leaves the tortoise behind and, confident of winning, takes a nap midway through the race. When the Hare awakes however, he finds that his competitor, crawling slowly but steadily, has arrived before him.
The account of a race between unequal partners has attracted conflicting interpretations. The fable itself is a variant of a common folktale theme in which ingenuity and trickery (rather than doggedness) are employed to overcome a stronger opponent. As in several other fables by Aesop, the lesson it is teaching appears ambiguous. In Classical times it was not the Tortoise’s plucky conduct in taking on a bully that was emphasised but the Hare’s foolish over-confidence. An old Greek source comments that ‘many people have good natural abilities which are ruined by idleness; on the other hand, sobriety, zeal and perseverance can prevail over indolence’.
GET IN FRONT STAY IN FRONT
The story and it’s various interpretations are interesting to reflect on in the context of business, and how we think about the subjects we all seem obsessed with, like leadership and winning.
“Get in front, stay in front” is an emblem we created for Adventure that is inspired by Aesop’s story of the tortoise and the hare. It is designed to capture the spirit of the two aspects of thinking we believe need to combine for companies to successfully lead through leveraging their brand.
GET IN FRONT
The “Get in front” aspect of the task of brand development is relatively quick. It is represented by the hare. It’s outwardly focused, it’s ambitious, it’s energetic, it’s entrepreneurial, it’s visionary, it’s fun! It’s about looking at the landscape, identifying your strengths, setting the goals, developing the products, having the ideas, knowing where your edge is: figuring out what kind of race you want to run and on what terms you want to win.
STAY IN FRONT
Once out in front, there is no time for complacency (we know what happens to the hare). Businesses need more than than a robust plan, a well thought through brand and some good quality products in order to sustain their lead: they also need a culture that is capable of maintaining the energy and momentum required to keep up the pace within a constantly shifting landscape. The work required to “Stay in Front” (represented by the tortoise) is less visible, more intangible, more inward looking and less ‘exciting’ on the face of it…but if you’ve read the story…you know who wins.
Although I have neither your lightness of foot, nor the compact and powerful symmetry of your haunches, I will undertake to run you for a wager
OTHER INTERPRETATIONS
Another angle on the story could be that the hare and the tortoise represent two different aspects of the character traits required to lead: the quick-thinking fleet of foot visionary who believes that anything is possible, alongside the considered, patient pragmatist who knows how to get things done.
Perhaps the most common interpretation of the story is the idea of grit and determination being of more value than more obvious flashy talents. This is interesting when applied to business and leadership. It can often be that it’s the showy noisy ones who grab the limelight who are seen as ‘leaders’, when it’s often the quieter ones – who lead in less obvious ways – that are actually responsible for keeping things steady and consistently moving forwards.
Fables are often described as fictions that point to the truth. Almost three thousand years since its conception by Aesop, there is no agreed upon single ‘truth’ or moral in the story of the Tortoise and the Hare – a fact Aesop would surely be very proud of if he were with us today.