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Competition & Collaboration
Keys To A Healthy Economy
Most of my work is done in my home office which takes a tremendous amount of discipline as any entrepreneur knows. One of the things I Iove most about my home office is the view from the window in front of my desk. Tucked back in a secluded area of Pinellas County with no street lights, huge, old oaks trees and quite a menagerie, including possums, armadillos, raccoons, coyotes, snakes, an otter and at one time even a Florida bobcat, it hardly seems possible we are in the middle of the most densely populated county of Florida.
Outside my office window there is a bird feeder that hangs from an oak branch along side a hanging pot of flowers. When I fill the bird feeder the squirrels and birds compete for fresh new seeds. Usually within the day, they are both enjoying the treat from the same feeder. The squirrel will jump from the hanging flower pot to the feeder, causing the seed to spill to the ground; the doves will dine on the ground while the squirrel hangs on with one foot and dines from the feeder. The cardinals wait patiently on a nearby branch until the squirrel takes a break and then momma and papa cardinal take their place on the feeder perch. It’s quite entertaining, and I have to admit the activity pulls me off task from time to time.
Yesterday I witnessed something I’ve never seen before: two squirrels in a knock down fight, literally, for the seed. I’ve seen squirrels chase each other away – or squawk at each other obviously warning the other to stay away. But yesterday---it got physical. They stood on their back legs in a joint bear hug until one actually pushed the other off the branch and he (and yes – I had a vantage point – it was a he) fell to the ground with a thud. Not to be kept down, he got up, ran up the branch and attacked again. Again - knocked to the ground with a thud. The other squirrel then began to bite chunks out of the branch on which the feeder was hanging. Was he marking his territory? This fight went on for at least 15 minutes and guess what was happening at the feeder? Two cardinals were chomping down as much seed as possible while the 2 squirrels were fighting.
Today the feeder is empty and Mr. Squirrel (the one that won the battle yesterday) is sitting on the branch nearest to my window, staring at me. The other one is across the sidewalk on another branch. And --- there is a dove on the ground finishing up the spill from yesterday. Oh, and now he’s squawking at me! “Sorry Mr. Squirrel – not today, you should have been nicer yesterday.”
So I ask you --- is there a business lesson here?
