The Eagle Or The Vulture? Who Do You Want To Be!!!

It was a three -day seminar with a whole lot of games and inter­active sessions, but through all these activities the most impor­tant and inspiring highlight was a video that was shown to all of us on the second day.

Just before the video the trainer asking us a question, “Who do you want to be, an eagle or a vulture and then immediately started the video.

The first half of it was about the natural life of a vulture. I noticed that the bird is a born-scavenger.

It waits and keeps waiting for an injured animal to die and then starts feeding upon it voraciously. Having said this, one important thing I observed was that it is never alone.

They always scavenge in a group and never alone and they do this for a reason.

Because of their ‘togetherness’ they are able to fight off the other scavengers namely the hyenas and at times the jackals as well.

Video

Despite being much larger than the vultures I noticed that as a group they were able to shoo the others away and take complete con­trol of the carcass.

Strength in unity is what I learnt from them.

The video then moved ahead de­picting the life of an eagle.

The eagle is not a scavenger, but an extremely powerful and aggres­sive predator.

In that video I saw the manner in which it flies extremely high and yet is able to, due to its sharp vi­sion, spot a rabbit on the ground! Within just a few seconds of spot­ting it, at tremendous velocity the eagle flies towards the rabbit like a rocket and with its sharp claws grabs hold of it leaving the rabbit no chance of escape.

Attitude

Its keen vision, its sharp claws and as importantly its attitude to dive down at super speed and grab hold of its prey without thinking twice about failure were a few sig­nificant things I observed.

After the video was over the fa­cilitator came forward and politely instructed us.

“Dear participants, you have ex­actly fifteen minutes and in this duration of time I want you to think, analyse and then write all the things you have observed from watching the video!

I will be looking forward to listen­ing to all you through a group dis­cussion.

The fifteen-minute duration was over and we were ready with our notes.

Many of us spoke in this discus­sion and the overall consensus was that to be a great leader in an or­ganisation we must develop eagle-like qualities.

Almost everyone was of the view that leaders must never become like a vulture.

It was then that the facilitator came to the forefront and addressed us.

I am pleased with your efforts and your passion to extract a lot of ob­servations especially from the ea­gle.

Almost all of you seem to be of the view that it is better to have the qualities of an eagle than the vul­ture! However, I noticed during the group discussion that there were a few who did not agree to this con­clusion” Looking towards one par­ticular participant the facilitator asked him to explain his contrary views.

Facilitator

“Dear facilitator, I completely agree that there is a lot to learn from the life and the personality of an eagle. We surely can learn about having a long term vision, swift­ness in decision making, always being on the look-out for oppor­tunities that may look extremely distant and at times, almost impos­sible and the ability to grab the op­portunity without wasting time.

I also learnt about the fearlessness of the eagle to attack a prey that is much larger in size.

Having said all this the vulture too has taught some very positive qual­ities which can surely help us to be­come better leaders for the future” “Really!” one of the participants spontaneously exclaimed.

Observation

“Yes dear friend, as I observed the vulture and its living style I noticed that they are great example for team work and team building and it is because this quality that they can overpower other and much larger scavengers quite easily” As I heard this I nodded in the affirma­tive as I too had made the same ob­servation.

The participant continued, “Vul­tures may not be predators like the eagles but as scavengers they are the best.

Their sense of anticipation, obser­vation and vision especially from long range is as good as that of the eagle.

As leaders we must be predators in terms of looking out for opportu­nities across different demograph­ics and geographies.

But that the same time there is nothing wrong in looking at those consumer markets where some other competitors have already tried to capture but may not have succeeded.

I may not call this an act of scav­enging but then it is similar”

It was then that the facilitator intervened and generously ap­preciated the participant and his perspectives.

Qualities

He then began addressing all of us, “I believe that as someone who wants to become a leader, more than choosing between an eagle and a vulture, it is how wisely you learn and extract the best quali­ties from both of them and then went on to explain further.

That day, along with the other participants I too had learnt a few but significant qualities about be­coming better leaders from the eagle and the vulture.

We also learnt something else, that learning need not be only from books.

We can, with our attitude of keen-observation can learn from different aspects of life which in­clude birds and animals!

Feedback: maraia.vula@fijisun.com.fj