A Monkey, Crocodiles & Netflix What You Can Learn from Them

Stories have a lot of power and I'm reminded of a story from over 2000 years ago from an ancient Indian text called the Panch Tantra.

This is a story which is relevant even today if you apply the lessons to today's world,

Whether it is business,

Personal life,

Anything.

This is a story of a monkey and a crocodile.

So long back in a forest in India,

There was a monkey and this monkey lived on a tree and on that tree he would enjoy the beautiful fruits of the tropical forests of India,

Mangoes,

Bananas,

Pineapples.

And one day a crocodile comes over,

Looks up at him and the monkey looks down at him and the monkey asks the crocodile,

Would you like to try some fruits?

And the crocodile says,

And the monkey shares some of those fruits and the crocodile loves those fruits and over time the monkey and the crocodile become friends.

The crocodile regularly comes,

They chat,

They laugh together,

They have a great bond.

Now Mr.

Crocodile starts taking some of these fruits for Mrs.

Crocodile for his wife and she loves these fruits too.

They are very sweet fruits.

But one fine day,

Mrs.

Crocodile gets a thought and she shares it with her husband and the thought is,

This monkey which is sharing the fruits,

They are so sweet.

These fruits are so delicious.

I want to taste his heart,

She tells her husband.

I want to taste his heart.

I can't imagine how delicious and sweet his heart will be.

And Mr.

Crocodile for some strange reason listens to everything his wife says and he goes,

He comes up with a plan.

He goes to the monkey and he looks up at the monkey and he tells the monkey,

You know my dear friend monkey,

You have been so nice to me.

You have shared fruits with me.

Why don't you jump on my back?

I will give you a ride.

So the monkey trusts his friend and he jumps on the back of the crocodile and the crocodile says,

I'll take you for a round in this lake.

And as the crocodile is going in the center of the lake,

The crocodile feels invincible.

He feels powerful.

In the middle of the lake,

The monkey has no place to run and he looks at the monkey and he tells him,

You know,

I'll tell you something.

I am taking you to my wife because my wife wants to eat your heart.

And when the monkey hears this,

The monkey starts laughing.

He says,

You should have told this to me before.

The crocodile is a bit surprised.

He says,

What do you mean?

He says,

If you had told me before,

I would have brought my heart along.

You know,

Monkeys,

We keep our hearts in trees and the crocodile says,

Okay,

Can you get it now?

The monkey says,

Of course,

Take me back.

So the crocodile takes the monkey back.

The monkey jumps off the crocodile,

Climbs the tree,

Goes and sits on top of the tree,

Looks down at the crocodile and starts laughing.

The crocodile is surprised.

He says,

Why are you laughing?

He tells him,

You are a fool to have believed me,

To have believed that my heart lies in the tree.

Now,

To some of you,

This might seem like a children's story,

But there is a deeper meaning,

A deeper symbolism to the story.

Let me explain how,

But before I explain how,

Let me explain something from the modern business world,

Because I feel business,

Life,

Spirituality,

All of them merge together and the lessons that are applicable in one can be used in other parts.

So I'm reminded of a large company,

A multi-billion dollar company called Blockbuster.

Blockbuster was a global company that was in the business of renting out videos,

DVDs,

CDs.

They had hundreds of stores,

Probably thousands of physical stores where you could walk in,

Pick up your favorite movie,

Take it on rent and go.

And in those days,

A new company was started,

A very small startup by the name of Netflix.

Some of you might have heard of this company and they wanted to compete with Blockbuster,

But they were struggling because Blockbuster was a giant.

They were the crocodile of the industry and Netflix was like a small monkey and they were really losing money.

They were struggling to make ends meet.

So Mark Randolph and Reed Hastings of Netflix go up to Blockbuster,

They're really struggling and they say,

You know,

Buy our whole company for only $50 million.

And the guys at Blockbuster start laughing.

They say,

Why should we buy you?

We are giants.

We don't need you.

Now,

This was a time of challenge,

A time of crisis for Netflix.

But in this challenge,

In this moment of crisis,

Netflix decided to think something different,

Something unique.

And they said,

You know what?

We can't afford these physical spaces.

Let's not take up physical spaces.

Let's directly use the internet to stream into homes of people.

And when they did this,

It actually transformed everything.

Over time,

Blockbuster went bankrupt and Netflix today streams in many homes,

Probably streaming in your home too.

Because now they do not have real estate costs,

They do not have to hire employees,

They do not need to spend on air conditioning or heating.

So what was a challenge earlier,

They transformed it into a gift.

And today they can reach the remotest of places.

And this story in many ways is like the story of the monkey and the crocodile,

Because here Netflix was like the monkey.

They were facing the challenge,

But they used their creativity to come out of it.

And there are powerful lessons you can learn from this,

Which can be applied to every area of your life.

What are some of the lessons?

The first lesson,

A very powerful lesson in times of crisis,

Remain calm,

Have an inner calm,

Because when you are calm from within,

You can respond better.

The monkey was calm,

He was threatened to be eaten,

But because he was calm,

He could come out of it.

In your life too,

Whenever you are faced with a crisis,

Tap into your inner calm.

The next is be creative,

Because when your creative solutions come,

The monkey was so creative to come up with a solution.

Netflix was creative to come up with a solution.

When you are creative,

You will think beautifully and the ideas that come can transform your life,

Can transform your business,

Can transform your nation.

And the next is your past success does not equal to future success.

Yes,

Blockbuster was successful in the past,

But that doesn't guarantee success in the future.

Similarly,

In your life,

No matter where you are,

You might be a giant today,

If you become complacent,

You will not be able to innovate,

You will not be able to succeed.

The next time you see Netflix,

Remember to implement some of these lessons.

This is Yogesh Chhabria sending you lots of love,

Lots of blessings and lots of success.

See you soon.