This week’s Quick List* is a companion piece to our Quote of the Week: There is nothing in a caterpillar…
This quote has many practical and inspirational applications for leaders who are dealing with problems, mistakes, slow progress, morale, productivity, engagement – theirs or those of others.
1. Caterpillars travel slowly and minimally.
2. Caterpillars chew leaves and destroy plants with their strong jaws.
3. Caterpillars have poor vision and what they do see is in black and white.
4. They defend themselves through things like camouflage, bristles and poisonous or smelly secretions.
5. They grow 27,000 times their original size, shedding skin as they grow. If humans grew at that rate, a 9 pound baby would grow to 243,000 pounds. (from The Caterpillar Diet)
6. After the final shed, the caterpillar leaves the world, their skin hardening into a chrysalis.
7. Provided that the chrysalis serves it’s purpose of protection from predators, a butterfly soon emerges.
8. Unlike the slow plodding caterpillar, a butterfly is agile and can fly thousands of miles and flit easily from place to place.
9. Instead of chewing and destroying plants, butterflies drink nectar and promote plant growth by pollinating flowers.
10. Instead of limited black and white vision, butterflies have great vision and can see in color.
If you are a person who :
- is moving slowly and feeling frustrated by that
- has a business or business idea that you can’t seem to get off the ground
- knows there is a cool idea hidden somewhere but it seems to be camouflaged
…review the facts above. Perhaps you need to gather more information. Perhaps you need to grow a bit more. Perhaps you need to cocoon (or rest) a bit. Or perhaps you need to ask for help.
Or if there is someone on your team who:
- is moving slowly
- has limited vision
- sees most everything in black and white (no gray)
- chews people up
- repels people with poisonous or stinky communication
…don’t step on him. Instead – review the facts above. Perhaps the person needs more information in order to grow. Perhaps he needs support. Perhaps he needs protection so he will feel safe. Unlike a real caterpillar, he has you who can help him with all of this.
Here’s a quote that came from Audri and Jim Landry:
“Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar.” Bradley Miller
Let’s replace the word “child” with the word “person”, “manager” or “leader”.
Whether it’s a a real live, literal caterpillar or an idea or a person, let’s protect him. He may not ever become a butterfly, but if we step on him, he will never even have the chance.
And we, as leaders, will miss the opportunity, and our teams will miss the opportunity to witness the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly .
A real boost for morale, productivity, engagement and overall performance.
* This weekly feature is for managers who don’t have time or don’t want to make time to read lengthy articles or even short paragraphs. We call it a Quick List. AKA – 10 by 10 on Tuesday. 10 ( ideas or tips or questions or steps or ways to Get 2 Goal or Be a Better Manager, etc) by 10 (AM – EST) on Tuesdays. Click here if you’d like to see all Quick Lists created to date.
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