There is some amazing research out confirming that Elephants appreciate that they need to co-operate to achieve a result. Here is a brief exert from the report.
The Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) involved in the study had already been taught that pulling on a rope brought a platform towards them, and a food reward on that platform within reach.
But this apparatus, set up at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang province, presented them with a new twist on that simple task.
One rope was threaded all the way around a platform - like a belt through belt loops - so if one end was tugged, the rope simply slipped out and the platform did not budge.
But if two elephants each took an end of the rope and pulled, the platform moved and that could claim their treats.
"When we released one elephant before the other, they quickly learned to wait for their partner before they pulled the rope," Dr Plotnik told BBC News.
So here is the largest animal on the planet, who is already known for their social abilities, showing us how co-operation and working together as one, will get the job done.
Why is it then that our human nature favours the single endeavour and reward the single executive for their efforts, when clearly they could never have achieved it on their own. I am of course talking about the obscene pay rewards for bankers and indeed senior executives of global companies, who are being rewarded, as if they delivered the profits single handedly.
Now I appreciate that somewhere along the way, someone decided what a reasonable pay package should be for a senior executive and that set the standard, which continued to escalate to ridiculous amounts of money that do not make any real sense at all in this current new Millenium.
Who says that a senior executive has to earn a huge salary to compensate him or her for the stress and pressure of having the top job or even those who are one or two levels below the top job.
People at the very bottom of the organisation have exactly the same emotional stress as someone at the top of the organisation. In fact the higher up you get in an organisation it's not about what you know but more about how you manage people, because your stardom success is totally dependent on how the people below you perform. I would even go as far as saying that someone at the top of the organisation should get paid less and instead receive a performance related modest bonus based on results of the team he/she manages.
I think you get my point. Let's reward people who are truly responsible for delivering results on the frontline and motivate the executives by encouraging great leadership and management through a modest bonus incentive scheme.
The largest animal walking the planet realises how to share his/her success, let's learn from the natural world and take some tips from the Elephant!