The Hare and the Tortoise

The beginning of a new year is always a good time for reflection. To assess the previous year and make any course corrections for the year ahead. As I reflect on the huge number of conversations I’ve had with people this year – about their careers and their promotion prospects – I’m reminded of the story of the Hare and the Tortoise.

I imagine the vast majority of people have heard this story. Often attributed to Aesop and his famous fables, actually versions of the story have been found dating back as far as Ancient Greece! In short a hare (a notoriously quick animal) and a Tortoise (a notoriously slow animal) have a race. Spoiler alert – the Tortoise wins. Whether because of arrogance, tiredness, forgetfulness (the story is open to interpretation) the Hare decides to have a nap half way through the race and oversleeps, allowing the Tortoise to win.

I often hear the story referenced when talking about people and their careers. There are people just like the Hare – always in a rush, pushing for the next promotion, the next pay rise, the next opportunity. And there are people like the Tortoise – steady, focused and going at their own pace. We all know people who fall into each of those extremes and we could each probably peg ourselves as being more like one than the other.

The issue is that the ‘Hares’ are often too blinkered on the here and now. They are in a hurry to progress so try to grab all and any opportunities to move up. Their ambition is admirable but they don’t stop to consider the medium/long term strategy. You often see them flitting from one job to the next and constantly challenging more senior people on how they get promoted. Progression, in the form of more money, better title, more responsibility, becomes the objective rather than the means to attaining the main objective – a happy, fulfilling and rewarding career.

The ‘Tortoises’ on the other hand can often get overlooked. The ‘safe pair of hands’, the ‘steady and reliable’. They don’t make much noise and therefore frequently get overshadowed by the hares. But they are often great at what they do, develop long term relationships and, over time, can build enviable reputations. They’re the kind of people that are missed when they suddenly decide to leave.

The obvious point is that organisations need both hares and tortoises. And leaders need to be better at providing tailored support to everyone, irrespective of how fast, noisy or demanding they are. Particularly when it comes to promotion decisions.

However, the other point is that the very best people are a bit of both Hare and Tortoise. As with most things in life, it’s getting the balance right. They know when to shout and when to let their work speak for itself. They know when to move and when to stay put. They constantly assess what’s going on around them, and where they are in their career and long term strategy, and react accordingly. Sometimes slow and steady wins the race and sometimes you just need to move quickly.

In fact there’s a little known extension to the story. The Hare, Tortoise and some of their friends decided to have a party after the race on a hill next to the wood where they lived. Whilst up there they saw a forest fire in the distance moving at speed towards the part of the wood where all their families were. They needed to warn everybody quickly, so who did they send? They only used one measure to make their decision, so they sent the winner of the race of course – the Tortoise…