Learn to unlearn – HR message from snakes

The corporate people must shed their old learning and ignorance regularly if they really aspire to grow. But unfortunately most of the corporate employees are interested in only accumulating both the ‘learning and ignorance’ and nothing else. It is not the ignorance that impede ones growth, the old learning the people carry with them also affect their growth. This important management message the corporate, its HR and the employees must learn. Nature has some finest examples for the corporate to learn.

Snakes shed their skin and this process is called ‘ecdysis’ or ‘molting’ or ‘sloughing’. Most people in the corporate must be aware of this behaviour of snakes.

The interesting question is that when the snakes shed their skin the most? It is not when the skin become old, the snakes shed their skin, when the snakes grow fast, it shed the skin fast.

Scientific studies have proved that young snakes molt the skin fast and frequently than the adult or the aged snakes.

If the snakes get food regularly, it will grow fast. When the snake grows fast, it shed its skin frequently. If the snake fails to molt its skin due to some reasons, it would die. The management message is that growth needs not the food (knowledge) alone but also regular removal of the skin (ignorance but must un-learn to re-learn).

The corporate people when acquire knowledge, they believe they would grow. If they fail to remove their old learning and ignorance to new learning, the mere acquisition of the knowledge would never help them to grow. It might only kill them.

One should never see the acquisition of new knowledge and elimination of old learning as two separate activity or event. During growing phase, snakes shed its skin frequently. The management message conveyed by the snakes should be understood in right spirit by the corporate. Every incident in nature needs to be questioned and understood as why and for what all such occurrences happens. One needs to learn and also must unlearn what is already learned.

The skin that gives protection to the snakes once are removed and discarded the snake grows further. When it attempts to grow, the old skin impedes its growth as it has already assumed a definite size. Unless such skin is cut and removed, further growth is not possible for the snakes.

It is not just a mere biological event that happens in snakes and other reptiles. This biological event indeed, silently and loudly conveys a strong management message to the ‘conscience’ of the corporate world as a whole. Learn to learn and learn to unlearn is the message snakes have to share.

Dr S Ranganathan