“The Strategy of the Dolphin: Scoring a Win in a Chaotic World” book by Dudley Lynch and Paul L. Kordis was first published in 1990… 27 years ago! And yet, this concept is still very viable today.
The chaotic world that the authors referred to then had little in common with today’s reality. Now life speeds up at a faster pace than ever before in the history of the human race as new technologies, including the Internet, spread rapidly. Recently, Le Devoir published an article “Le Québec en état de surmenage social” (Quebec’s Social Overwork). It is not surprising that the topic of happiness at work is continuously among the top searches. Our article “Surviving Toxic Leadership” posted last September became an instant hit among our readers…
Inspired by the book, we shall focus on the following two subjects:
Part One
THE STRATEGY OF THE DOLPHIN: UNDERSTANDING THE METAPHOR
The authors draw parallels between the natural characteristics of the three aquatic species – the carp, the shark and the dolphin – and the human performance in the world of business. Several years ago, San Diego researchers placed 95 sharks and 5 dolphins (no carps, but you will understand why) in a large pool and let them live together for a week. Guess what they saw when they checked back on them seven days later… But first, let’s have a closer look at the animals used as the metaphor in the book to explain human nature and individual behaviors.
The Carp
The common carp is a victim. He fears to be hurt and would flee any potential danger, even if it means sacrificing everything. Often, the carp has lived some traumatic events, and feels trapped in the defeat. Carps prefer the status quo and avoid any change to reduce the risk of suffering. Self-sabotage, self-imposed limitations and fears… they are chronic victims. While carps have the strength to take action, their constant fear of adversity prevents them from coming out from the shadows and taking a stand. At the same time, carps are proud and composed; they rarely voice their opinions and often take the back seat or stay out of the game altogether. They play the nice-guy routine, letting others take the risk and the blame…
Carps believe that they live in a world of scarcity. When confronted with change, their behavior is best described as a get-out and give-in play.
We’ve all been a carp at some point in our life…
There is another type of a carp personality, presented in a more positive light… the pseudo enlightened carp. These people believe in the immense capacities and powers of humans. Unlike their common carp cousins, pseudo enlightened carps believe in a world of absolute abundance. “I believe that all we really need in life is to learn to let go, let the flow carry us, and everything will be fine. It’s just a matter of time before everyone wins. All creatures should love and take care of each other.” One little snag: these people never take action, they initiate no change to avoid any disruption of their environment. In the end, they are hardly any different from the common carp. They think they are dolphins, but since they are often too nice for their own good, they get eaten by the shark.
The Shark
The shark is a ferocious predator, no surprise here! Sharks have no remorse when it comes to winning at any expense, and they make no distinction. For the shark, everything and everyone is a potential threat or competition. They believe they live in a world of scarcity and limitations. They are intolerant, impulsive and always ready to attack. “For me to win, you have to lose.” It is the opposite of a win-win approach. Sharks have several strategies to achieve a personal win, because winning is the only acceptable outcome, whatever the cost: cheat, create panic and confusion by whirling and raising waves, never admit to their faults, distort reality, hoping they will never be questioned.
Sharks have an insatiable lust for power, they seek to control. And for that they maintain a general climate of crisis to keep others feeling dependent on them. Only their vision can be valid. Egocentric and narcissistic, they accept only their own judgment. For sharks, the ideas and solutions suggested by others do not deserve any attention. While they prefer the stronghold strategy, when challenged by a stronger opponent sharks can resort to compromise or trade-off. However, their strategy of control is not viable in the long term.
The Dolphin
Unlike carps and sharks who believe they live in a world of scarcity, the dolphin believes in abundance. While dolphins admit there might be shortage of resources, they choose not to live in fear of it. They are inventive, playful and intelligent. They believe in cooperation and can easily adapt to any changing situation to make the best use of the available resources and to find elegant solutions that would combine precision, consistency and simplicity. Dolphins thrive in tougher environments, using their flexibility and adaptability to achieve more with less. Besides, Cybernetics states that the most flexible person will have the advantage in any situation. The dolphin would not blindly apply laws and principles, but rather advocate strategies that work.
A master of creativity and adaptability, the dolphin will sometimes behave as a carp, sometimes as a shark, depending on the situation. The dolphin works towards a specific goal, knowing all the facts, hoping to achieve improvement, innovation and evolution by continuously pushing the limits, towards a world where everyone is a winner.
The dolphin can control, compromise, give up or give in, show disengagement or noncommitment… But unlike sharks and carps, the dolphin does not pursue his own interests, but works for the collective good. For example, a dolphin can be authoritative, pushy and even go as far as offending some people in the case of a medical emergency (and will take care of mending relationships later once the emergency is taken care of). And when the result is of little importance, a dolphin can become disengaged. The noncommitment strategy may be one of the dolphin’s preferred ones. The Dolphin thus avoids nonconstructive tasks and situations in order to invest time and energy in the true values and goals.
So, what do you think happened in the pool? Well, the researchers found 95 dead sharks and 5 dolphins playing together. How come?
To be continued…
Isabelle Vincelette, Experte amélioration organisationnelle et coaching
