Selection and the Harvest
Quotes
In a knowledge economy, natural selection favors organizations that can most effectively harness and coordinate collective intellectual energy and creative capacity. – Justin Rosenstein
In the wild, those traits that are adaptive for survival and reproductive advantage are brought out through natural selection. So, cats that were fierce, furtive hunters, alert to the snapping of every twig, with coats that gave them good camouflage, would have been favored by evolution. -Sue Hubbell
My father was a Gurkha, as well as my brothers, and I appreciated the attitude I saw coming from them after they joined. The Gurkhas go through a huge selection process with thousands trying to get in, and only 25 people make it at a time. – Nirmal Purja
My eyes are constantly wide open to the extraordinary fact of existence. Not just human existence, but the existence of life and how this breathtakingly powerful process, which is natural selection, has managed to take the very simple facts of physics and chemistry and build them up to redwood trees and humans- Richard Dawkins
It’s choice – not chance – that determines your destiny- Jean Nidetch
There are three constants in life… change, choice and principles- Stephen Covey
Every person has free choice. Free to obey or disobey the Natural Laws. Your choice determines the consequences- Alfred A. Montapert
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Harvest Season
This is the season of harvest in East Africa running from November to late January. It’s the season of mangoes, maize, pineapples and bean harvests. All the crops getting harvested have one thing in common, there will be grading and sorting of the harvest.
The best grades of harvest will get exported or sent to the local market. The medium grades will be consumed in the local market, the worst grades processed as animal feed, fertilizer or left to rot and discarded as the last resort.
School Results
In the same vein, the months of January and February have National Examination results come out at all levels. In the last two weeks Primary and O-level results have come out. This is also a metaphorical form of harvest.
Grading has taken place and all students are harvesting the results of their efforts. There has been unbridled joy and tears of anguish as the results roll in. The top schools are making their pick of the best performing candidates.
Parents are darting from school to school trying to get their children placed in these schools. The brutal school selection process is grinding on. The best candidates get automatically picked and the rest have to be placed in average schools all over the country.
The Sports Draft
Internationally we are all aware about Sports. Globally we have Sports Leagues for most team sports.
In America, the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Major League Baseball (MLB) all have nationally televised selection processes called the draft.
This is where they pick college students to join the teams. The best performing teams usually have the first right of selection and choose the cream of the crop and the less performing teams get the average players.
Globally the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, French, German and Italian Football Leagues stand out. The best soccer players in the world fight to join these leagues. The best teams have agents scouting all areas in the globe for the best soccer players.
This is big business and the Saudi National Football League has decided to challenge the dominance of the European leagues and started poaching global stars from the European Leagues. This is choice and selection running at it’s best and highest form.
Key Lesson
Nature selects and discards. This is the brutal nature of reality. This is why we will always have the Alpha male and female in most animal species in nature. The animals that thrive are the ones that are best suited to their environment and those that rapidly adapt to their ecosystem.
Nature will usually discard the weak and the least adaptive species in any eco system. Understanding this rule of nature is vital in our own lives. Aiming to join the 1% club, the best of the upper quartile is essential for survival and growth.
The best performing companies, the most strategic governments, the most strategic families come out top. The 80/20 rule comes into play naturally. The best will usually end up owning 80% of the resources available.
Avoid mediocrity. Watching the tears and anguish of children and parents whose results have been poor has reinforced the principle of aiming for excellence in whatever we do and undertake.