The Ibis and the Seagulls

 A business parable  showing that experience and brains make a difference – trying hard is just not enough.

I was at the waterfront recently and saw something I though was a great parable for those of us in business.

A discarded McDonalds’ bag lay on the ground in the middle of the park. A flock of seagulls descended on this bag in the moments after it was discarded– they obviously knew that it was likely there would be leftover fries in there and they wanted them.

First one seagull pecked at the bag, then the second, and within half a minute there were 8 seagulls energetically pecking away at the bag.

A while later the seagulls were still pecking away at the bag, a little more slowly now, when a long legged ibis casually walked over (he’d come from the other side of the park). The ibis stood still for a moment, contemplated the scene, then casually walked over to the top end of the bag, stuck it’s long beak in the opening and pulled a few fries out.  He then got out of there fast before the seagulls could snatch the fries from him.

The moral of the story is – recognising an opportunity is not enough, and nor is enthusiasm and energy – you need to know what to do with it.