Lessons From The Mongoose

 

I love watching the Discovery Channel because it is the purest form of reality TV. Pure nature, real time and unscripted. More than this, the lessons that I learn from the wildlife are invaluable in my personal and business life. Wolves teach us about team work with their ‘wolf pack’ mentality, Lions about power, strategy and domination. Bees about structure, organisation, division of labour and hierarchy etc. I could go on all day.

I watched a documentary about the life of the mongoose, a beautiful animal not much bigger than a rabbit that live in groups. I watched how they organised their lives and how protective they were of their children and watched in horror as a giant size king cobra invaded their burrow to feast on the cute babies. The ‘king’ will literally kill and swallow any animal the size of a rabbit including other snakes I watched as the mongooses all took flight the moment the snake appeared. I shut my eyes. I could not watch the inevitable. None of the mongooses stood a chance against a cobra whose venom is potent enough to kill an elephant. A snake that all other animals would rather avoid.

Then something strange happened, the mongooses had regrouped and surrounded the reptile. Each stayed just outside striking distance of the snake and each tried to distract it. The narrator explained that with so many moving targets to focus on, the snake is unable to single out an individual mongoose to attack thereby making it unable to kill any on them. As one mongoose was distracting the cobra, another one would bite its body or tail and as the snake made to react, it was attacked by yet another mongoose. Eventually the snake tired out and the mongooses shredded it to bits and ate the entire snake! They were not going to waste a prime source of protein. No !

The predator became the prey! We never see buffalo killing and eating the lion, nor the zebra doing the same to the wolf, or crocodile! This was unique and this picture of the predator king of snakes which is well above the mongoose in the food chain being consumed by the prey stayed with me for several days and I could not understand why, until yesterday when the penny dropped that there were several life and business lessons to be learned from the mongoose mentality.

Lessons

#1 Being the top predator or top dog does not always guarantee success (that you will always win)

The fact that your business is dominant in your market, that you are the boss or that you are larger or more lethal than your competition or peers does not guarantee that you will always beat them or be better than them.

 

#2 Never enter the territory of the enemy if you are going to be out numbered

If you are going to enter a new market do so only when you are sure that you have the resources and right strategy to quickly acquire market share. If you allow the competition to recognise you as a threat and regroup, they will devour you.

 

#3 A few 'dwarfs' working together can defeat a giant.

Always realise that your market share, dominance or power can be eroded or destroyed buy several smaller competitors that undermine you simultaneously

#4 Never under-estimate the power of the enemy (overconfidence may hurt you)

The smallest competitors have the potential to hurt you. Never under estimate them. They are nimble, unconventional and will wear you down if you do not change strategy.

#5 It is easier to defeat your enemy if your understand his strengths and weaknesses and exploit them

Understanding what makes and adversary or competitor thick or not, is the key to defeating them.

#6 Not all battles have to be won.

He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day. In business and life it is sometimes better to cut your losses and run.  

           

Those are the lessons the Mongoose taught me. Do you see other life and business lessons that I have missed? Please share and I will be honoured to update the blog with them.

Remember, the lack of money is the root of all evil!