The White Elephant

Heard a very interesting story today and below is my version and take away from that.

A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them was aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: “We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable”. So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. In the case of the first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said: “This being is like a thick snake”. For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand on its side said, “elephant is a wall”. Another who felt its tail described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.

Life Lesson:

Looking deep isn’t that what we all do in our day to day life, most of us work on a silo model look, analyse, take calls based on small pieces of information or data and try to deduce the outcome without looking at the big picture. Most often than not, this results in conflicts because not all have the big picture.

What does it take to comment, commit, speak after we have the complete picture? Isn’t that a greater question to ask ourselves, “Do we really know the white elephant?”

Source: www.rathnakumar.com