In the book, The Gift of Fear, Survival Signals that Protect Us From Violence, by Gavin de Becker, is found an interesting excerpt. It refers to the way circus elephants are trained:
| "When young, they are attached by heavy chains to large stakes driven deep into the ground. They pull and yank and strain and struggle, but the chain is too strong, the stake too rooted. One day they give up, having learned that they cannot pull free, and from that day forward they can be 'chained' with a slender rope. When this enormous animal feels any resistance, though it has the strength to pull the whole circus tent over, it stops trying. Because it believes it cannot, it cannot." |
The author goes on to discuss how this dynamic affects people who, when young, are repeatedly told certain things and believe them throughout their lives. It caused me to wonder how many great leaders and creative entrepreneurs in embryo do not develop to their potential because they were trained by chains that sounded like this:
| "You'll never be able to." "You can't do it." "You should have more realistic goals." "It'll never happen" "You'll never amount to anything." |
I am certain I've had business clients whose eyes have been somewhat opened to the fact that the chains were only illusions and that they indeed could and would succeed. And what opened their eyes? Perhaps a bit of encouragement and sound business plan coaching helped, but ultimately it was their effort - their actions. When they act upon their ideas, they catch a glimpse of their capacity and more importantly their potential.
I believe this little story of how elephants are trained is powerful for parents and teachers of young people. We can learn a great deal about the importance of the message sent by our attitude and language towards a child's achievements (or lack thereof), their creativity, their entrepreneurial spirit, etc. How many of the potentially great leaders and entrepreneurs of the future are held down by the illusion of great chains that in reality don't exist?
Share a comment below and tell me where you've seen these so-called chains at play (or seen them broken).
I believe this little story of how elephants are trained is powerful for parents and teachers of young people. We can learn a great deal about the importance of the message sent by our attitude and language towards a child's achievements (or lack thereof), their creativity, their entrepreneurial spirit, etc. How many of the potentially great leaders and entrepreneurs of the future are held down by the illusion of great chains that in reality don't exist?
Share a comment below and tell me where you've seen these so-called chains at play (or seen them broken).
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