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The
Lessons of the Geese
Written in 1972
by Dr Robert McNeish of Baltimore
In
the fall when you see Geese heading south for the winter flying along in the
“V” formation, you might be interested in knowing what science has
discovered about why they fly that way.
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It
has been learned that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for
the bird immediately following. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole
flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its
own. This quite similar to people who are part of a team and share a
common direction to get where they are going quicker and easier, because
they are traveling on the trust of one another and lift each other up along
the way.
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Whenever
a Goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of
trying to go through it alone and quickly gets back into formation to take
advantage of the power of the flock.
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If
we have as much sense as a Goose, we will stay in formation and share
information with those who are headed in the same way that we are going.
When the lead Goose gets tired, he rotates back in the wings and another
Goose takes over. It pays to share leadership and take turns doing
hard jobs.
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The
Geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep their speed.
Words of support and inspiration help energize those on the front line,
helping them to keep pace in spite of the day-to-day pressures and fatigue.
It is important that our honking be encouraging. Otherwise it’s
just----well---honking!
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Finally,
when a Goose gets sick or is wounded and falls out, two Geese fall out of
the formation and follow the injured on down to help and protect him.
They stay with him until he is either able to fly or until he is dead. Then,
they launch out with another formation to catch up with their group.
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When
one of us is down, it’s up to the others to stand by us in our time of
trouble. If we have the sense of a Goose, we will stand by each other
when things get rough. We will stay in formation with those headed
where we want to go.
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The
next time you see a formation of Geese, remember their message;
“IT
IS INDEED A REWARD, A CHALLENGE AND A PRIVILEGE TO BE A CONTRIBUTING MEMBER OF A
TEAM”.
http://suewidemark.com/lessonsgeese.htm
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