Entrepreneurs approach opportunities in two ways: like monkeys or like chimps

By George ILIEV
CorporateNature Metaphor Series, No 73.

Capuchin monkeys and chimpanzees both enjoy eating nuts (see documentary video below). Cracking a nut open is no rocket science but for a monkey (or even a human toddler) it can be quite a challenge.

Monkeys waste a lot of energy bashing rocks against the nut without seemingly learning much from each attempt. Chimps and other great apes, on the other hand, plan and execute the blow to the nut shell with precision learned from watching others in the family. Thus, chimps often manage to crack the nut with a single strike.

Some entrepreneurs adopt the monkey approach to tackling problems and opportunities. Others take after the chimps. Younger entrepreneurs are generally more likely to follow the "monkey way" of cracking nuts: multiple trials, multiple errors, slowly learning from their own mistakes and expending a lot of energy in the process. Mature entrepreneurs are more likely to resemble chimps: having observed others for a long time, they have learned from these observations which nuts to tackle and which to leave aside, and how best to crack the nut with the least amount of energy.

Yet, whether you are a monkey or a chimp, when you reach a nut (an opportunity), you'd better start cracking it as best as you can. Or else another species will eat it.