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Have you heard the famous team story based on flying geese? The one about how they rotate leaders, create efficient aerodynamics for easier flying, and honk to encourage each other? Well you have now. (But if you would like more details, please send a request for a free PowerPoint presentation.)

Perhaps less famous and just as profound is the crab story...it teaches us the pitfalls of not working together as a team.

Crabs as Teachers

For those who have never gone "crabbing" let me briefly explain the procedure. Get  some chicken legs and let them sit outside (in hot weather and in the sun is preferable), for several days until they are really smelly. Then go to a pier, tie some string around one of the legs and drop it into the water. Wait. Eventually you will feel a tug on the string. This is a crab trying to take the chicken leg. Slowly pull up the leg and you will have a crab on it. Put the crab in a 5 gallon (20 liter) bucket. Put the leg back down in the water and wait until you feel the tug again. Keep doing this and keep putting the crabs in the bucket. Notice that the bucket has no lid on it. It's just open.

So what keeps the crabs from crawling out? They can easily crawl up over the top. So why don't they? Because as one is about to escape the others will pull it back down inside as they are trying to also crawl out themselves. Each is only concerned with its own survival, and in the end, none survive.

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