Lessons in Leadership from An Elephant, A Rhino and A Penguin

Lessons from an elephant, a rhino and a penguin by Mukesh Gupta

I came across this video from the FilmBilder channel (they were part of my 20 insanely interesting people I found in 2016) on YouTube, that symbolises what we see in and around us – at work and at home.

First, lets watch the short 3 min video:

This video is about three friends – An elephant, a Rhino and a penguin. It is winter and freezing cold all around. The elephant and the rhino are shivering with cold and are feeling miserable. Then comes the penguin – playing in the snow, trying to entice her friends to join her in a snow fight – as they are fun.

However, it is so cold that the elephant and the rhino are shivering and in no mood to play with the penguin. She tries everything that she could think of, but to no avail. Then she seems to give up and goes around a boulder of snow and disappears for a while. When the elephant doesn’t see the penguin for sometime, it gets a bit worried. So, the elephant and the rhino decide to check out if the penguin is fine or if she needs any help.

After a few unsuccessful attempts, the elephant finally reaches the top of the boulder to find the penguin waiting for them with a snow ball. She hits the elephant with the snow ball and the elephant and the rhino go tumbling down. This breaks the ice and finally, all the three friends enjoy a good game of snow fighting.

The story is simple and in its simplicity lies its profoundness!

Now, try to think and try to answer these questions as truthfully as possible:

  1. Are you like the penguin or her friends?
  2. What changed from the time the story started to the time it ended?
  3. How come the elephant and the rhino, who were shivering and miserable a moment ago, were now playing with snow in a few moments?
  4. How is this even possible? Is there a life lesson in there for us?

In this blog, I generally try and answer questions and provide my point-of-view. However, this time around, I would like to leave you with these questions and request that you share your point-of-view about the questions that I have asked above – with me and other readers of this blog, or with someone you are close to and trust, or at least with yourself.

A small request:

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