Act II
A Flat World supported on the back of a giant tortoise, on the back of another and another…
The Farmer observed that all Best Practices rest on the shoulders of other Best Practices they replaced; like the world supported on the back of a giant tortoise supported on the back of another giant tortoise and so on.
The Tortoise Theory of Best Practices: building processes upon the work of others and recognizing that the industry can contribute to standards that are efficient and effective ensures steady successes for the individual as well as the organization.
The Fox approached the Tortoise and the Hare separately and sent them on different detours that ended up putting them both at the edge of the world where the Tortoise and Hare finally met. Planning took much more time for the Tortoise and there was nothing unusual about that and planning was attended to very carefully to make sure that the baseline was set solidly. The Hare employed a free floating style of “Bricolage Planning” or moving from one thing to the next making his way based on his experience and a sense of where things were headed rather than a fully formed plan – he was light on his feet, if you will. However, for all their competitive animosity over utilization and different styles of performance the two had a lot in common and both wished in some sense that they had a little of the other in terms of approach. The Tortoise really appreciated the confidence the Hare often showed in difficult situations and really coveted his smooth as silk way of winning customers over to his perspective and his quick witted thinking. The Hare wished he could slow down a little and be more deliberate in his approach to focusing on his assignments and completing them well.
The Tortoise and the Hare faced a decision. To jump or not to jump off the end of the earth. They talked a little about their options but it seemed inevitable that if they were to finish their projects it would mean having to jump, which they did.
Falling, falling, falling for what seemed like minutes created more than a tad of anxiety and questions about ever returning to the ordinary world. It seemed a daunting task to climb up the column of Tortoises suspending the earth since it spanned miles and miles straight up.
It seemed that the “attention” the Tortoise gave to each activity and the deliberate and careful monitoring of activities was a Best Practice the Hare could work a little harder embracing on his projects while the Tortoise felt that “communicating” more effectively could benefit her greatly. As they talked both were feeling much better about the other after awhile having learned a few tricks.
They need not have worried about hitting a hard surface because when the time came the falling ended with a tearing through of a soft membrane. They immediately knew they had left the known world far, far behind. For one, the new world was bathed in an orange glow. They were used to seeing light as clear; so seeing from the orange glow of thousands of burning fires seemed very strange and ominous. No blue sky here – no sky at all. It was more like a huge cavernous expanse with patches of flame lighting up the the underside of the world miles and miles above. The flicker of orange flames danced in their eyes but stranger still the environment was not unbearably hot – more like a hot yoga class. Not comfortable by any means but survivable. They both joked that the Fox would surely be difficult to spot here in the orange glow and the Farmer surely out of luck if he tried growing anything because the expanse was desolate – a huge orange desert; even the dirt was orange but that might just have been the light – there was no color save orange except for the white of the Hare and the mottled green of the Tortoise. They both stood out like a couple of sore thumbs. (Act II – to be continued…)
