After several weeks of dilly-dallying, I finally opened and started reading the book I’ve purchased. The book is titled “ Strategy Safari, A guided tour through the wilds of Strategic Management” written by the management legend, Henry Mintzberg. The book talks about the “evolution” of corporate strategy as well as the various schools of thoughts regarding strategy formulation. Mintzberg pointed out that strategy formulation process cannot be adequately describe by just one school of thought but rather strategy formulation process is sum total of all the school of thoughts combine. Anyway, I just started reading the book and haven’t gotten to the juicy part yet to really assess the idea behind the P655.00 book. Instead, what I find amusing is the poem that the author uses to point out the state of corporate planning in the real world. The poem is written by John Godfrey Saxe and is titled, “ The Blind Men and The Elephant”.
The Blind Men and The Elephant
John Godfrey Saxe
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind)
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
The first approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to brawl:
“God bless me but the Elephant
Is very like a wall.”
The second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, “Ho! What we have here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me ‘tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!”
The third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
“I see” quote he, “The Elephant
Is very like a snake!”
The fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt around the knee,
“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” quoth he;
“Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!”
The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resemble most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!”
The sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a rope!”
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed long and loud,
Each of his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
Moral
So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!
Point well made, John Godfrey Saxe. However, a wise guy like me couldn’t help but ask how could the six blind men of Indostan “know” what a wall, a spear, a fan, a snake, a tree, or even a rope looks like? I mean to a blind man, a wooden palisade, a brick wall, or any rampart or tall obstacle could qualify as a “wall”. The presumption of the poem is that these blind men “knew” already and they try to correlate the elephant to what they’ve experienced before. To them, a wall is the brick wall that perfect sighted individuals knew. Ok, granted that these blind men were able to know by feeling the objects they mentioned before but I can’t help but wonder, how could they “feel” a snake? Wouldn’t the snake kill them before they get to know what bit them? Of course, one could reason that they “feel’ a dead snake before but if that is the case, wouldn’t they mistook it for a rope or a vine instead? Funny, I can’t help but laugh at my own triviality however; my point here is that even though Lord Saxe’s poetry is interesting, one cannot discount critical thinking while reading. Another point in the poem I’d like to question. Wouldn’t it be practical for those debating blind men to just move around and “see” what the other see and thus end all the nuisance debates? After all, they’re blind but not lame, nor limp nor crippled. They did come all the way from Indostan to “see” the Elephant right? The morals of this blog that I’m writing are that, One; it pays to be a critical thinker, who might find something to laugh at and come out being a wise guy. Two, never argue with a blind man or for that matter, any close minded person who doesn’t want to “see” the truth or any person who wouldn’t want to move around and “see” the entire truth on what an elephant looks like because it is an argument one cannot win. And third, always look around and “see” and don’t be blind even if one could be wrong in order to “know” what an elephant looks like. As for me, I haven’t seen an elephant in its entirety yet. Have you?
The Blind Men and The Elephant
John Godfrey Saxe
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind)
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
The first approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to brawl:
“God bless me but the Elephant
Is very like a wall.”
The second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, “Ho! What we have here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me ‘tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!”
The third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
“I see” quote he, “The Elephant
Is very like a snake!”
The fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt around the knee,
“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” quoth he;
“Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!”
The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resemble most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!”
The sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a rope!”
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed long and loud,
Each of his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
Moral
So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!
Point well made, John Godfrey Saxe. However, a wise guy like me couldn’t help but ask how could the six blind men of Indostan “know” what a wall, a spear, a fan, a snake, a tree, or even a rope looks like? I mean to a blind man, a wooden palisade, a brick wall, or any rampart or tall obstacle could qualify as a “wall”. The presumption of the poem is that these blind men “knew” already and they try to correlate the elephant to what they’ve experienced before. To them, a wall is the brick wall that perfect sighted individuals knew. Ok, granted that these blind men were able to know by feeling the objects they mentioned before but I can’t help but wonder, how could they “feel” a snake? Wouldn’t the snake kill them before they get to know what bit them? Of course, one could reason that they “feel’ a dead snake before but if that is the case, wouldn’t they mistook it for a rope or a vine instead? Funny, I can’t help but laugh at my own triviality however; my point here is that even though Lord Saxe’s poetry is interesting, one cannot discount critical thinking while reading. Another point in the poem I’d like to question. Wouldn’t it be practical for those debating blind men to just move around and “see” what the other see and thus end all the nuisance debates? After all, they’re blind but not lame, nor limp nor crippled. They did come all the way from Indostan to “see” the Elephant right? The morals of this blog that I’m writing are that, One; it pays to be a critical thinker, who might find something to laugh at and come out being a wise guy. Two, never argue with a blind man or for that matter, any close minded person who doesn’t want to “see” the truth or any person who wouldn’t want to move around and “see” the entire truth on what an elephant looks like because it is an argument one cannot win. And third, always look around and “see” and don’t be blind even if one could be wrong in order to “know” what an elephant looks like. As for me, I haven’t seen an elephant in its entirety yet. Have you?
No comments:
Post a Comment