For those of you who may not be aware, Jeff
Hoffman is a serial Entrepreneur. He has played an important role in building
and running several new-age businesses including the highly successful www.priceline.com.
During an Entrepreneur Bootcamp
session here in Pune, he enticed us all with his immensely rich experience
including success stories, lessons learnt from failures, how to build a
business, how to identify and rectify flaws etc., but the one thing that really made
a mark with me was this one particular nugget of wisdom that he shared. Read on…
AFRICA
It so happens that in Africa, one of the
most useful and easy ways to hunt down monkeys is quite unique. Hunters would
dig holes in the ground and wedge a Banana into it. The Banana would be wedged
just so that it is difficult for the monkey to pull it out.
Now here’s the
interesting part…when monkeys climbed down from their trees and onto the forest
to try and pull out the wedged banana, they would not be able to. They would
keep trying and trying to pull the banana out but since it wedged, it just wouldn't
come out.
What happens next?
The hunters would then simply walk over to
the monkey and capture it :(( Over the years, what the hunters realized is that no
matter how dangerous the situation became, once the monkey grasped the banana,
it wouldn't let go. It therefore became an easy way for hunters to catch them.
What the Monkey didn't realize is that all it had to do was to let go of
the banana and it would be free. Instead, in trying to hold onto the banana, it
eventually lost everything include its life. Fellow Monkeys would scream ‘danger’
but they just wouldn't let go of the Banana.
The above story can be applied to many of
us. Are we holding onto something that can and will cause havoc in our lives?
And more importantly, are we aware of it? If we are aware of it, then are we
ready to face the impending outcome?
While
this can be applied to every facet of life, entrepreneurs like us tend to be faced
with such situations quite often. In order for us to grow, we need to break our
patterns of thinking (i.e the monkey wanting the banana) and watch for warning
signs. If we don’t, we tend to undo all that has been done because of our seemingly
impractical, inane and innate stubbornness. Do share your thoughts on this as
well. In the coming days, Ill try and put more such nuggets of wisdom that he shared.
May The force Be With You :)
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