“A Hare was making fun of the Tortoise one day for being so slow…”

Aesop.

Have a beautiful weekend. Somehow, I gathered the resiliency to start painting again this week. After Cherry (my pet) left us, everything around my working painting table reminded me of her, and I was unable to paint. But this week. positively I re-took the painting oeuvre that I left on hold since March 31st, and it is almost finished. So, I will share it soon. In addition, during this saga don’t expect me to post all my watercolor exercises. Why? You will understand it below.

The hare and the tortoise from the point of view of other illustrators. During this saga I will accompany my articles with others’ illustrators that I have found, or I can find (public courtesy) about this specific Aesop fable. You will see the fable through other artists, and their individual visual storytelling. You will be able to observe how distinct painters-illustrators have taken notice of Aesop’s message. Of course, by the end of this epic, expect my own painting interpretation. I will paint my own version of the fable, but I will share my oeuvre. just by the end of the epic, by the time of the epilogue episode.

YOLI with establishing the correct foundations. Today’s story is about the subject number three: purpose, philosophy, rationale and the objectives.

YOLO is the acronym of “You Only Live Once”. YOLO is a greatly utilized word utilized nowadays. But many have misunderstood its concept. And use it as a philosophy of life traduced in excessive selfishness of “I don’t care for you, but only me”. As a result, the idea of let’s live at our speed, because life is short and who cares for the rest has been transferred and adopted generation by generation to our days. The YOLO is simply the premise foundation of “maximizing shareholder value”, and our business models reflect it. Our lifestyle show it. During and after the pandemic, we also have seen the YOLO egoistic philosophy being privileged. And that is not good for anyone. Everything requires an equilibrium with our mother earth planet, with our communities and the rest of species. Probably, if we become little by little more fraternal in search for an equilibrium between our own interests and the rest alive; I am sure things will begin to change in our enterprises, industries and countries.

YOLI meaning: “You Only Live Integrally”. Our most relevant philosophy has to change from YOLO to YOLI or “You Only Live Integrally”. if we wish to see the results in the next generations lives. YOLI is the way to go ahead instead of YOLO. Aesop’s fable teaches us the beauty of YOLI. YOLI means integrity. And this epistemic virtue is only accomplished through hard work and resistance, perseverance, resilience and passion for what we can do. The singularly confidence of the turtle of Aesop’s story, is based not in her physical power, but her tenacity to believe in her dedication to continue despite the bullying, and regardless what others thought of her. The turtle or tortoise was living under YOLI terms. She accepted to race against the hare.

Aesop’s version that will be utilized for this saga. For the occasion of this saga, I will stick to the version from the 1919 of Aesop for Children with illustrations by Milo Winter.

Key elements of any race. Any race has at least three general components: the start, the race itself (path route with its roadblocks or difficulties or facilitator elements), and the finish line or goal (the end). We will explore these three constituents, plus the judge (regulator and its rules/penalties), and of course the time. Without time, no race could even exist.

How does this race start? From the beginning of any endeavor, relationship or business, we can grasp the sense of what is or what could be happening next. Particularly, in the case of this Aesop story. Let’s read the first sentence of our fable. “The Hare was making fun of the Tortoise one day for being so slow”. The Hare was bullying the tortoise. That is how our fable kicks off. If a race starts as such, what could happen subsequently is also a possible lesson for the characters’ fate. The bully attitude of the Hare, was evident. The hare was scoffing the turtle. The hare attitude was scornfully derisive in a mocking way towards the turtle. And that is how the Aesop’ fable begins.

Contrary to the debut of the hare when insulting the tortoise, we will initiate our journey, by setting the right foundations. So let’s get down into our content for today.

Purpose of this saga.

The aim of this epic is to demonstrate the key elements and relevance of the context of TIME when doing corporate strategy formulation, in order to provide a hint on how corporate strategy has to be redefined for the future.

Philosophy of this voyage.

The philosophy of something that exists is the investigation or study of causes and laws underlying that reality existence. We philosophy when we inquiry ourselves into the nature of our endeavors applying logical reasoning rather than empirical methods. Our philosophy for this saga is pivotal to the notion or concept of corporate strategy. We wish to change the corporate strategy current conceptualization and formulation as it is taught and applied in business schools and the business world. So, to provide a new point of view and analysis of the current fundamental beliefs of what should be the meaning of corporate strategy. We will utilize the variable Time, as our tool when it comes to transform the conceptualization and formulation of it.

In consequence, we will stick to 2 logical reasonings when handling the notion of corporate strategy for the new generations:

1. There is a cause and effect relationship between time and the dealings of Corporate Strategy as it is defined currently in theory.
2. The role of a business is not to maximize shareholder value, but to protect our human coexistence between us and the environment, to promote our humanity and solidarity, and to prevent harm between us in our present and future.

Rationale of our epic.

A rationale is the set of fundamental reasons for this story production. Our rationale is the basis, the bottom-line of our principles. Thereby, be confident that we always maintain integrity as our moral compass. Integrity defined as an epistemic virtue that englobes our ethical virtues. For this saga we will mainly recall our rails between the following virtues: hunger for righteousness; meekness & peacemaking; love for our YOLI time in this journey that we call life; and of course, faith and hope.

The bottom line of this saga is to understand why the current definition of corporate strategy is not integrally well formulated. And why the variable time has come to prove it.

Objectives of the saga.

1. To unfold the Aesop’s fable “the Hare and the Tortoise” as a mechanism to comprehend the meaning of time in corporate strategy terms.
2. To discuss what is the relative dimension of time and revisit the theories of those who tried to define time differently, as Einstein.
3. To understand how the term Corporate strategy is formulated at the moment (nowadays). This includes its dealings when it comes to growth, stability, retrenchment, portfolio analysis and corporate parenting.
4. To disclose and embody with several examples (business or enterprises) how time affects each of the contemporary dealings of Corporate Strategy.
5. To model a new framework when it comes to a redefinition of corporate strategy.
6. To study and analyze the correct elements that a pace (rhythm) of corporate strategy formulation must undertake.
7. To connect the dots between the Aesop fable, our definition of time and corporate strategy.
8. To indicate a new hint or direction for corporate strategy research towards a re-definition, towards a much integral concept that may help those who are guiding instruction, training, or schooling at Business Schools or Universities.

We truly hope you can stick to our saga. It will shake the reality in order to build a solid foundation for our business paradigms in the future. Wishing you a lovely weekend. Thank you for reading to me. See you next week.

Bibliography
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=gdc3&fileName=scd0001_20021203001aepage.db&recNum=101
http://read.gov/aesop/025.html

Disclaimer: Illustrations in Watercolor are painted by Eleonora Escalante. Other types of illustrations or videos (which are not mine) are used for educational purposes ONLY. Nevertheless, the majority of the pictures, images, or videos shown on this blog are not mine. I do not own any of the lovely photos or images posted unless otherwise stated.

Published by eleonoraescalantestrategy

Corporate Strategy Artist, San Salvador, El Salvador View all posts by eleonoraescalantestrategy