Are We Really Dumber Than Crows?
Autumn is rushing by so quickly – I’m barely landing at one conference before I’m off to the next. There’s hardly a moment to stop and absorb what I’ve just heard, except maybe at red lights.
So there I was, sitting in my car, seat heater up, listening to some country music ofcoz (don't ever judge!!:)). Suddenly, I noticed a crow perched on the tram rail beside me, holding a walnut in her beak.
I instantly knew what she was up to.
I grabbed my phone to snap a photo (above:) ), but before I could catch the shot, she was already gone.
A few weeks back at Unleash in Paris, I’d listened to a talk on social learning – that shiny buzzword we’ve been tossing around for the past ten years without seeing much real change.
Well, let's correct. No change at all.
What Crows Get Right About Social Learning
But that crow, balancing her walnut and plotting her next move, felt like the purest example of social learning in action. No fluff, no jargon. Just simple observation and applied wisdom. I watched as she placed her walnut on the tram rail, timing it perfectly so the tram would do the hard work of cracking it open. A younger crow watches an experienced one pull off this trick – carefully dropping the walnut where it’ll get crushed – and boom, lesson learned. It’s like a masterclass in nut-cracking efficiency.
Meanwhile, back in the world of human conferences and workshops, we’re still figuring out how to make social learning stick. Despite our best efforts, it often ends up as more of a trendy line item in the agenda than a meaningful shift in how we work together.
Why? Because, unlike crows, we’ve made learning seriously overcomplicated.
No Ego, Just Efficiency
Crows don’t overthink it. They don’t sit around discussing “best practices” for walnut management. They just do it, without ego or endless PowerPoints. Imagine if we took a cue from them: instead of lengthy debates, we’d just test, try, fail, and share. No one’s trying to reinvent the walnut. They’re just making sure everyone knows how to crack it.
Simple, Effective, and Shared Learning
What if we applied a bit more crow-like efficiency to our own environments? Instead of overloading information or adding more “initiatives,” we could focus on creating spaces where people learn by seeing and doing. The beauty of social learning is that it doesn’t require bureaucracy – just the openness to observe, adapt, and share without a second thought.
Next time you’re stuck at a red light, keep an eye out for these little walnut-cracking masterminds. Nature’s showing us that sometimes, learning is as simple as watching the tram pass by.