Outside my office window is a forsythia tree which is just coming into blossom and is particularly attractive to
a group (or should that be a flock) of blue tits. We regularly see at least four or five of them briefly gathering and chattering
before swooping off to their next point of call. This reminds me of a story from Stuart Emmett from Learn and Change...
"In England at the turn of the century, milkmen used to deliver their product to customers' houses in uncapped bottles.
Birds, particularly the blue tit and the red robin, learned how to siphon off the cream that rose to the top of the bottles.
Between the two world wars, dairy distributors began capping the bottles with aluminium seals. During the 1950's the blue
tit population had learned how to pierce the seals. Robins, on the other hand, were completely stumped.
Blue tits learn as a species because they are networking birds, moving from garden to garden in flocks of eight
to ten for several months. They teach other, passing knowledge from individual to pair and to group.
Robins by contrast, are territorial. they stake out turf and prevent others from settling on it. This limits the opportunity
to share knowledge that would benefit the entire species".
Just a thought....which organisation will remain at least one step ahead of its competitors
- The 'blue tit' or the 'robin' ..... and.... ....what species is your organisation - blue tit or robin?
