The Manager's Misjudgment: Lessons from Newcomers

A fox manager gathered his team to review the work done in the last quarter. He began by praising a monkey, a newcomer to the team, and expressing admiration for him. Using the monkey as an example, he accused an old company employee, the dog, of being lazy. The manager said:

• Watch this monkey. He embodies a 'can-do' attitude and unmatched velocity.

In reality, the hard work was done by the dog. The only thing the monkey did was to express an idea that had already been shared by the dog earlier. However, the newcomer monkey chose not to mention this fact.

As a result, the dog, who originally shared the idea, was discredited without any reason. Meanwhile, the monkey was placed on a pedestal and glorified.

Later, when the same team and project faced a new challenge, they had to decide who would accompany the manager to solve a crucial problem. Despite the dog's opinion, the fox decided to take the foolish monkey.

The outcome was a project failure, and the fox faced a wage cut as a consequence. The fox and the monkey learned a valuable lesson about respecting others' work and experience.

Moral: Be sure to know your team and don't misjudge your most valued team members.

P.S. Based on a true story!