fox

You can catch a monkey by putting a banana in box that has a hole big enough for the monkey’s empty hand to enter but small enough to prevent the monkey’s fist and banana from exiting. The monkey won’t let go. And so it is trapped.

You can catch a fox with a steel jaw clamp that springs closed onto the fox’s leg but if you don’t come back and check your trap soon enough, then the fox will have enough time to gnaw off its own trapped leg and you will find that you have only caught its paw.

The monkey is foolish for not letting go of what it obviously should let go of, and the fox is ingenius for letting go of something that it was not obviously holding.

Don’t be a monkey. Think like a fox.

soccer player

In a 2009 soccer match between USA and Egypt, American player Charlie Davies scored a very interesting goal.

Davies scrambles toward the ball and finds himself very close to the goal but with no direct shot because an Egyptian defender was in the way. As the Egyptian goalkeeper rushes toward Davies, Davies intentionally shoots the ball away from the goal and toward the goalkeeper. The ball ricochets off of the goalkeeper and goes into the goal. It’s sort of unbelievable. And beautiful. Sometimes there’s no substitute for being able to think on your feet.

The best way to achieve your goal might be to aim away from it.

child

On a trip to Tasmania, we visited some friends and watched their 6-month-old daughter, Nishka, play with one of her toys. It was a small table with some groundhogs poking their heads out of the holes, and the object of the game was to hit the groundhogs back into the holes with the hammer.

Nishka hammered 2 out of 9 groundhogs and then dropped the hammer, grabbed the toy, turned it upside down, and smashed it on the floor, knocking the other 7 groundhogs back up into their holes using the floor instead of the hammer. Pretty clever for someone who couldn’t even walk or talk yet.

Sometimes the best tool to use isn't the one in your hand, or one in your toolbox.

poet

The poet E. E. Cummings painted a beautiful picture of a human being:

"somebody who said to those near him,when his fingers would not hold a brush "tie it to my hand"--"

We strive to emulate that gentle, purposeful resilience in our design solutions.