How a Shark in the Tank Keeps Us Lively: Embracing Challenges to Stay Fresh and Energized

Challenges - The Shark In Our Life

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades. So, to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever.

The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the fish. If the return trip took more than a few days, the fish were not fresh, and the Japanese did not like the taste.

To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allowed the boats to go farther and stay longer. However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen fish, and they did not like frozen fish.

The frozen fish brought a lower price. So, fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin. After a little thrashing around, the fish stopped moving. They were tired and dull, but alive. Unfortunately, the Japanese could still taste the difference. Because the fish did not move for days, they lost their fresh-fish taste. The Japanese preferred the lively taste of fresh fish, not sluggish fish.

So how did Japanese fishing companies solve this problem? How did they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan? If you were consulting the fish industry, what would you recommend?

How Japanese Fish Stay Fresh:

To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks. But now they add a small shark to each tank. The shark eats a few fish, but most of the fish arrive in a very lively state. The fish are challenged.

Have you realized that some of us are also living in a pond but most of the time tired & dull, so we need a Shark in our life to keep us awake and moving?

Basically in our lives, Sharks are new challenges to keep us active and taste better.

The more intelligent, persistent, and competent you are, the more you enjoy a challenge. If your challenges are the correct size, and if you are steadily conquering those challenges, you are a conqueror. You think of your challenges and get energized. You are excited to try new solutions.

I think in India, we change our preferences based on what is available, whether it be frozen fish or whatever else. Only when we are assertive about what we truly desire do things start to shift in our favor.

Regards,
Suba

Very, very good, Kiran. Reminds one of the famous book "Only the paranoid survive." I must especially compliment the last paragraph about the challenge being of the right size. While being challenged is important, it has to be in the right proportion and not what some self-help books suggest. Excellent.

An interesting story.

On the one hand, one must compliment the fishermen who thought of the concept of challenging the fish and keeping them alive at the cost of a few who were caught and eaten.

On the other hand, the fish who were 'challenged' and survived, only survived to be eaten by the end consumer. So did they really gain anything save a few more days of a stressful life?

Makes you think. What management lesson are you really learning?

Jeroo

Dear Jeroo Chandiok,

Thanks for the compliments, but I could sense that somewhere you had a pessimistic view of the story as you took seriously the ending life of fish. Human beings also have an ending life; everything is perishable. We, as human beings and professionals, are also going to have such a phase in life - a dead end or retirement part. But that doesn't mean that we should not lead a challenged life. The story only depicts that if you are self-driven, motivated, and challenged, you can have a proper selling value. The real worth of you can come out, but you would have a depreciated value if leading a dull and non-energetic life. The nature also accepts the rule of survival of the fittest. Everyone in the professional world is selling oneself; hence the shark is a must to prove your worth.

Regards,
KIRANARORA

True. A challenge makes you more active. But does that really enhance your value? And where is the motivation? And does enhanced action really make you work more or better? It only keeps you on your toes, just as you were when you were in the water. Only in the water, you were freer.

What I am trying to point out is that it is the ingenuity of the fishermen that is the crux of the story, and not the behavior of the fish. Just a different point of view. Sorry if it upset you!

Jeroo

I am not upset but really happy to know your point of view. I think you are observing it with a different perspective. In my perspective, if you observe, the target of fishermen was to bring a fish of worth taste and value which was achieved. So, professional targets are also achieved by challenges, either you put them in your front or the others.

Regards,
KIRAN ARORA