rabbits were born to run
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Rabbits were born to run: a parable about talent management.TRANSCRIPT
Rabbits Were Born to Run A Parable of Talent Management
A rabbit, a duck, an eagle and a squirrel decide to find a school so they can be smart, just like people.
They found what seemed to be a fine school, with a curriculum to make a well-‐rounded animal: swimming, flying, running and tree climbing.
Rabbit’s first class was running. There he was a star. He ran to the top of the hill and back as fast as he could. He said to himself, “I love school. I get to do what I like and learn to do it even beIer.”
The next class was swimming. When rabbit saw all that water, he cried, “Wait, wait! Rabbits don’t like to swim.”
The instructor replied, “Look how well duck is doing. You may not like it now, but five years from now you’ll know this lesson was worth it.”
In the tree-‐climbing class, rabbit tried so hard he hurt his leg. He tried and tried but sPll, he could not climb that tree.
Flying class was also a struggle. Rabbit had to pracPce jumping off a cliff. They told him if he’d just work hard enough, he could learn to fly.
The next morning, he returned to swimming class. The instructor announced, “Today we jump in the water.” “Wait, wait. My parents didn’t learn to swim. Rabbits don’t like to get wet.” “You have two choices,” said the instructor, “swim or flunk.”
Rabbit jumped in. He franPcally tried to keep his head above water. The instructor saw he was drowning and pulled him out. He wanted desperately to get out of swimming class and was relieved when it was over.
Rabbit leS swimming feeling so bad he knew he could not face swimming class again. He hopped toward the counselor’s office. Surely the counselor would understand and help him.
When he arrived at the counselor’s office, he hopped up on a stump and said, “I don’t like school. I just want to run.” And the counselor said, “Mmmm, tell me about it.” And rabbit did.
The counselor said, “Rabbit, you need to be more well-‐rounded and learn to do everything well. You’re doing just fine in running. What you need to work on is swimming. I’ll arrange it so you don’t have to go to running anymore, and you can have two periods of swimming.” When rabbit heard that, he felt sick to his stomach.
As rabbit hopped out of the counselor’s office he looked up and saw the Wise Old Owl, who said, “Rabbit, life doesn’t have to be that way. We could have schools and businesses where animals are allowed to concentrate on what they do well.”
Rabbit was inspired!
He decided to start a school where
everyone could do what they were made to do.
Ducks could just swim. ASer all, ducks were designed to swim.
Squirrels could just climb trees. ASer all, squirrels were created to climb.
Eagles could just fly. ASer all, eagles were meant to fly.
Rabbits would do nothing but run. ASer all, rabbits were born to run.
The moral of the story is… Turning talent into performance requires leZng your squirrels climb, ducks swim, eagles fly and of course, leZng your rabbits run…
As a manager, how can you make sure your team is opera9ng at its best?
1. Don’t look for what’s wrong and try to fix it in an aIempt to make everyone well rounded.
2. IdenPfy what your people do well. 3. Find ways for them to do more of it.
With inspira4on from Don Cli7on & Paula Nelson from Soar With Your Strengths and Animal School by George H. Reavis, and apologies to Bruce Springsteen.
Rabbits Were Born to Run A Parable of Talent Management