Will you be running in the morning?
I am currently reading Tom Friedman’s book ‘The World is Flat’. I recommend this book highly for anyone interested in a perspective where we are going and how we got here. Combine Friedman’s thoughts with those of Tom Barnett (‘The Pentagon’s New Map’) and you can have quite an evenings conversation over a few glasses of wine.
Anyway, in Friedman’s book there is a quoted African proverb that is REALLY neat. I thought I would pass it along since it kinda sums up life in today’s business world. Friedman uses it (pg 114) as a metaphor for life in the flat (read globally interconnected) world.
Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better start running.
-African Proverb
Posted: November 15th, 2005 under General.