Don’t Be the Tiger (All the Time)

To understand today’s post, you’ll need to take a look at the video below. But before you do, consider my idea: people fall into two categories—tigers and monkeys. Tigers are the serious ones; the people who, for whatever reason, take themselves quite seriously and are slow and steady, moving towards a target and frustrated when things happen that they don’t expect. These people can be beneficial when you need something done and you don’t want to spend lots of time explaining the why, how and what for.

On the other end of the spectrum are the monkeys. These are people who are creative, who have a sense of humor, who don’t go about doing things the way “everyone else” does. Monkeys can be frustrating as well, because they are always changing the rules and doing things in nonconformist ways. But overall, they come up with amazing ideas and run (or swing) rings around the tigers.

As a manager in various jobs through the years, I have valued both tigers and monkeys, but I admit there are times when I value monkeys more. It is typically the monkeys who come up with the truly creative, fun ideas or resourceful ways of approaching problems. They may be difficult to train and guide, but the ideas they bring forth are worth the hassle.

Taking into consideration the differences in tigers and monkeys, one can easily see how monkeys would frustrate the hell out of the tigers.

And this is where the fun video comes in. Take a look and ask yourself, am I a tiger, or a monkey?