There’s a story about when Donald Rumsfeld was the Secretary of Defense under George W Bush. Apparently, Mr. Rumsfeld was supposed to do a press conference at a government compound on the edge of a forest in India. When they scouted out the property in the weeks before the conference, they discovered thousands of aggressive rhesus monkeys that terrorized the people. They tried all sorts of solutions: banging metal objects, throwing things at them, and shooting firearms in the air. But to no avail. The rhesus monkeys were not deterred at all. Finally, a local was consulted and the next day a small truck arrived at the compound. The driver got out and opened the door to the cage in the back. He reached in and grabbed the leash of a large langur monkey. The langur hopped out and the man and langur monkey walked the perimeter of the property. The rhesus monkeys vanished. The larger langur monkey intimidated them and accomplished what dozens of men with guns couldn’t do.
Sometimes in business we try all of sorts of solutions to problems when really if we step back, there is a simple answer – usually asking someone for help. Sometimes you just need a bigger monkey.