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Life of Pi - 5 Business lessons

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Nikki Fryer

The document discusses 5 lessons that can be learned from the novel and film Life of Pi about business: 1) Demonstrating your capabilities through examples builds more credibility with customers than just stating what you do. 2) It's important to consider both short-term and long-term consequences when making business decisions. 3) Like Pi and the tiger, businesses will always have competition and need to find ways to adapt and co-exist while still being profitable. 4) Understanding limited resources and priorities is crucial for business survival, especially in difficult conditions. 5) After setbacks, businesses need to learn from mistakes, adapt, and keep their goals in mind to find new ways forward.

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Life of Pi - 5 things it can teach us about Business After a cargo ship carrying passengers sinks in a violent storm, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the Pacific. Inside is a resourceful Indian boy named Pi, a handful of zoo animals, and a fierce tiger called Richard Parker, the only survivors of the wreck. Life of Pi is a tale of faith, hope, and the fight to survive. The story of how Pi survives, and eventually gets saved can teach us valuable lessons about both life and Business. 1. With one word, my name went from an elegant French swimming pool to a stinking Indian latrine - I was pissing everywhere. Whats in a name? At the start of the film Pi is stuck with the unfortunate name of Piscine and the incessant teasing that goes with it. He decides to rename himself Pi and sets about convincing his school friends about the rebrand. With each lesson that passes Pi announces his new name to the class, but they just wont accept it. Its only when he writes out from memory the first 1000 digits of Pi (the mathematical symbol) that his peers finally accept him as credible. Whether you are a new brand, established brand or even rebranding, repetition of your brand name is only half of the answer when it comes to marketing. Sure brand recognition is important but demonstrating who you are, and what you actually deliver has much more impact when it comes to potential customers /clients. In all forms of marketing from Social media to your website examples which show not just tell what you are capable of are vital in building credibility with your audience.
2. I can eat the biscuits, but God made tigers carnivorous, so I must learn to catch fish. If I don't, I'm afraid his last meal would be a skinny vegetarian boy. Long term v Short term is important to consider The most obvious answer isnt always the right one. Every Business decision we make has consequences down the line. Its really important when making business decisions to think about both the short and long term ramifications of any action you take. When your business takes a hit, whether that be losing a customer, or being on the wrong end of a bad debt, survival instinct kicks in and its easy make rash or poor choices. Give yourself space and time to think, take a second opinion, and weigh up all the options. If Pi had just decided to eat the biscuits and not think through the long term consequences he would surely not have survived. 3. ''I had to tame him,'' (Pi) realizes. ''It was not a question of him or me, but of him and me. We were, literally and figuratively, in the same boat." You will always have competition Pi has no way of getting rid of the tiger, he cannot go anywhere, and he cannot beat the tiger head to head he is too strong. They are stuck in a small space together and they have to find a way to co-exist. Pi observes the Tiger and finds his weakness (sea sickness), he tracks his behaviour, and works out where he can work alongside him, where he should attack, and where he should retreat. He adapts his own behaviours and patterns to play off his strengths against those of the tiger. In business we all have competitors, and always will have. The key is to be aware of your competitors, be ready to adapt and to find ways to co-exist whilst still making a profit. There will be times where taking a competitor on head on is actually the right thing to do. But sometimes this isnt the nest option. Where are their weak points? Where can you differentiate?
4. Life on a lifeboat isnt much of a life. It is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The elements couldnt be more simple, nor the stakes higher. Survival and Limited Resources Surviving for long periods of time at sea is extremely difficult, even without an adult tiger in the mix. Many experts consider survival at sea to be the most difficult survival situation. The three essentials of survival are protection from the elements, food, and water. Pi makes it clear that lack of abundant fresh water was his greatest stress at all times, and this is realistic: Pi was in a fairly hospitable climate and so faced little danger of freezing to death, and humans will die of dehydration long before they die from starvation. Surviving in business at times is equally difficult, you need to understand clearly the component elements of your business, and what the priorities are at all times. With limited resources available using what you have in the most efficient way possible can be the difference between a business surviving or disappearing altogether. This is particularly true of startup businesses and those facing difficult trading conditions. Take stock of what you have, what is essential for survival, and what is superfluous to requirements. It is surprising how many business owners do not track ROI on their spending, and something as simple as this can make redistributing your resources much simpler. 5. The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar. After a fall aim high Pi works really hard to build a system where he has his food rations laid out and inventoried, knowing exactly how much he has to last. He has everything planned and organised, then a whale comes along and causes a wave so high it washes away almost all of his supplies. It is when Pi is at his most desperate he becomes most resourceful, doing what he must to survive. Every business hits a setback at some time or another. The key is to learn from your mistakes, take stock of what you have got, adapt and move forwards. Keep your end goal always in mind and you will find new ways to achieve it. When times are tough, that is when we need to be most resourceful in business and dig deep.

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Life of Pi - 5 Business lessons

  • 1. Life of Pi - 5 things it can teach us about Business After a cargo ship carrying passengers sinks in a violent storm, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the Pacific. Inside is a resourceful Indian boy named Pi, a handful of zoo animals, and a fierce tiger called Richard Parker, the only survivors of the wreck. Life of Pi is a tale of faith, hope, and the fight to survive. The story of how Pi survives, and eventually gets saved can teach us valuable lessons about both life and Business. 1. With one word, my name went from an elegant French swimming pool to a stinking Indian latrine - I was pissing everywhere. Whats in a name? At the start of the film Pi is stuck with the unfortunate name of Piscine and the incessant teasing that goes with it. He decides to rename himself Pi and sets about convincing his school friends about the rebrand. With each lesson that passes Pi announces his new name to the class, but they just wont accept it. Its only when he writes out from memory the first 1000 digits of Pi (the mathematical symbol) that his peers finally accept him as credible. Whether you are a new brand, established brand or even rebranding, repetition of your brand name is only half of the answer when it comes to marketing. Sure brand recognition is important but demonstrating who you are, and what you actually deliver has much more impact when it comes to potential customers /clients. In all forms of marketing from Social media to your website examples which show not just tell what you are capable of are vital in building credibility with your audience.
  • 2. 2. I can eat the biscuits, but God made tigers carnivorous, so I must learn to catch fish. If I don't, I'm afraid his last meal would be a skinny vegetarian boy. Long term v Short term is important to consider The most obvious answer isnt always the right one. Every Business decision we make has consequences down the line. Its really important when making business decisions to think about both the short and long term ramifications of any action you take. When your business takes a hit, whether that be losing a customer, or being on the wrong end of a bad debt, survival instinct kicks in and its easy make rash or poor choices. Give yourself space and time to think, take a second opinion, and weigh up all the options. If Pi had just decided to eat the biscuits and not think through the long term consequences he would surely not have survived. 3. ''I had to tame him,'' (Pi) realizes. ''It was not a question of him or me, but of him and me. We were, literally and figuratively, in the same boat." You will always have competition Pi has no way of getting rid of the tiger, he cannot go anywhere, and he cannot beat the tiger head to head he is too strong. They are stuck in a small space together and they have to find a way to co-exist. Pi observes the Tiger and finds his weakness (sea sickness), he tracks his behaviour, and works out where he can work alongside him, where he should attack, and where he should retreat. He adapts his own behaviours and patterns to play off his strengths against those of the tiger. In business we all have competitors, and always will have. The key is to be aware of your competitors, be ready to adapt and to find ways to co-exist whilst still making a profit. There will be times where taking a competitor on head on is actually the right thing to do. But sometimes this isnt the nest option. Where are their weak points? Where can you differentiate?
  • 3. 4. Life on a lifeboat isnt much of a life. It is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The elements couldnt be more simple, nor the stakes higher. Survival and Limited Resources Surviving for long periods of time at sea is extremely difficult, even without an adult tiger in the mix. Many experts consider survival at sea to be the most difficult survival situation. The three essentials of survival are protection from the elements, food, and water. Pi makes it clear that lack of abundant fresh water was his greatest stress at all times, and this is realistic: Pi was in a fairly hospitable climate and so faced little danger of freezing to death, and humans will die of dehydration long before they die from starvation. Surviving in business at times is equally difficult, you need to understand clearly the component elements of your business, and what the priorities are at all times. With limited resources available using what you have in the most efficient way possible can be the difference between a business surviving or disappearing altogether. This is particularly true of startup businesses and those facing difficult trading conditions. Take stock of what you have, what is essential for survival, and what is superfluous to requirements. It is surprising how many business owners do not track ROI on their spending, and something as simple as this can make redistributing your resources much simpler. 5. The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar. After a fall aim high Pi works really hard to build a system where he has his food rations laid out and inventoried, knowing exactly how much he has to last. He has everything planned and organised, then a whale comes along and causes a wave so high it washes away almost all of his supplies. It is when Pi is at his most desperate he becomes most resourceful, doing what he must to survive. Every business hits a setback at some time or another. The key is to learn from your mistakes, take stock of what you have got, adapt and move forwards. Keep your end goal always in mind and you will find new ways to achieve it. When times are tough, that is when we need to be most resourceful in business and dig deep.