A Heck of an idea… or is this the Herd Reich?

One of the odder activities that went on in Nazi Germany was the scheme to resurrect the Auroch.  These were a giant, primitive form of cattle that stood 6’ tall and had horns of similar dimensions.  They were hunted to extinction but remain part of European (and British) history.  Herman Goering, backed two zoologists called Heck, who tried to revive this breed.  Derek Gow, a Devon farmer has now imported a herd of 13 bulls, cows and calves.

It is an interesting story based on reviving the past and the tales we tell ourselves of who we are and what makes us special.  All our lives are filled with such stories; this is also true in companies and is part of what makes up corporate culture. 

However, being special because of some mythic past is one thing, but no substitute for being special because of who we are today and how we live our lives in the here-and-now!  I wish Mr Gow success with his endeavour, but I wish you much more in living mythically today.

“Glory be to God for dappled things for skies of couple-colour as a brindled cow; For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim”   Gerard Manley Hopkins

“Unless what we do is useful, glory is vain”   Latin Proverb

Resources:

• Times story
• Wikipedia

Tags: aurochs, corporate culture, glory, heck cattle, living in the Now, tales

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 09:10 and is filed under Business Change, Leadership, Personal Change, Values & Philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.