Who Won The Race? 누가 이겼을까?

Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who was faster. 

They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a route and started off the race.

The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, 

he thought he'd sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race. 

He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise, plodding on, overtook him 

and soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ. 

The hare woke up and realized that he'd lost the race.

The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race. 

This is the version of the story that we've all grown up with.

But recently, someone told me a more interesting version of this story. It continues:

The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching. 

He realized that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident, 

careless and lax. If he had not taken things for granted, there's no way the tortoise could have beaten him. 

So he challenged the tortoise to another race. The tortoise agreed.

This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles.

The moral of the story? Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady.

But the story doesn't end here.

The tortoise did some thinking this time and realized that there's no way he can beat the hare in a race the way 

it was currently formatted. He thought for a while and then challenged the hare to another race, 

but on a slightly different route. The hare agreed. They started off.

In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed 

until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of kilometers on the other side of the river. 

The hare sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundled along, got into the river, 

swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the race.

The moral of the story? First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency.

The story still hasn't ended.

The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. 

Both realized that the last race could have been run much better. So they decided to do the last race again, 

but to run as a team this time.

They started off and this time, the hare carried the tortoise to the riverbank. 

There, the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back. On the opposite bank, 

the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. 

They both felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they'd felt earlier.

The moral of the story? It's good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies 

but unless you're able to work in a team and harness each other's core competencies, 

you'll always perform below par because there will always be situations at which you'll do poorly and someone else does well.

Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership, letting the person with the relevant core competency for a situation take leadership.

There are more lessons to be learned from this story. Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise gave up after failures. 

The hare decided to work harder and put in more effort after his failure. The tortoise changed his strategy because 

he was already working as hard as he could.

In life, when faced with failure, sometimes it is appropriate to work harder and put in more effort. 

Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy and try something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to do both.

The hare and the tortoise also learned another vital lesson. When we stop competing against a rival and instead start 

competing against the situation, we perform far better.

--- Author Unknown --- 

요약해서 말씀드리면 

토끼와 거북이의 경주에서 여러분들과 제가 알던 이야기로는 토끼는 게으름을 피우다 지고 맙니다.

하지만 토끼는 자신의 실수를 깨닫고 거북이에게 재도전을 하게 되죠.

결국 여러분도 예상하시겠지만 토끼가 큰 차이를 내며 승리하게 됩니다.

거북이의 느리지만 꾸준함이 승리의 토대가 될 수도 있지만, 빠르면서 꾸준하기까지 하다면

항상 느리고 꾸준한 것에는 이기게 되어 있다는 것입니다.

또 거북이는 이대로는 토끼에게 절대로 이길 수 없다는 것을 깨닫고 토끼에게

다시 도전장을 던집니다. 이번엔 경기장을 옮기는 것으로 하구요.

경기가 시작됩니다. 토끼는 역시 빠르게 그리고 꾸준히 달려나갑니다.

하지만 결승점을 눈앞에 두고 멈춰설 수 밖에 없었습니다.

바로 강이 있었기 때문이죠... 느리지만 꾸준한 거북이는 토끼를 지나쳐

강을 건너 결승점에 다다릅니다 거복이의 승리.

여기서는 자신의 핵심역량을 파악하라. 자신에게 맞게 경기의 룰을 바꾸어라입니다.

이제 진짜 마지막.

토끼와 거북이는 친해집니다. 서로가 서로를 인정하면서 말이죠...

그리고 둘은 협력을 합니다. 육지에서는 토끼가 거북이를 업고, 강에서는 거북이가 

토끼를 업어 속도를 내고, 장애를 극복하는 시너지 효과를 내게 되죠.

혼자 아무리 노력해도 안되는 경우가 있기 마련입니다. 

자신의 역량을 파악하고 주어진 상황에 대해 경쟁자와 함께 

헤쳐나갈 준비만 되어 있다면 여러분도 성공의 길로 들어설 수 있지 않을까요?