Mongrel Principle – Dogs Way to Organizational Recruitment

I love dogs. I have had pedigreed dogs from a genetically fashioned birth and I have had dogs that were born out of nature’s promiscuity. The result of this promiscuity is typically called ‘ country dogs’ ( and I don’t know why they are called that) or mongrels.

A lot of care goes into the maintenance of pedigreed dogs. Very high in fact! On the other hand, the mongrels were hardier, easier to maintain, and less pinching on the wallet. And frankly, both gave me the same amount of love.

I also found that the mongrels were street smart and could adapt faster than pedigreed ones.

All the careful inbreeding and monitoring to make sure the bloodline was kept had weakened the dogs both in terms of intelligence and also in terms of physical health.

Which brought me to an interesting hypothesis. This can be co-related to an organization that has had employees but nurtured within their system. No outside influences, careful nurturing, and all that blah. On the other hand, you have organizations that have let people come with their own thoughts. Pretty much like the pedigree and the mongrel.

Increasingly we see that the inbred organizations have faced many more issues leaving them weakened until an outside influence came in. Even the bluest of blood like Unilever needed a Polman to shake them and look at other means to grow. Some of the pedigreed folks have fallen by the wayside ( not saying that they are not good). On the flip side, we have had all successful organizations let fresh blood and ideas come in resulting in far better results.

Inbreeding results in ‘ that is not done’, ‘ that is not the right way’, ‘that does not suit our culture’ kind of statements. The scope to think laterally is inhibited. In a mongrel friendly organization – fresh ideas are not stopped by mindsets. if at all they are stopped it is by physical issues.

An organization needs a mix of both -pedigree and mongrels. The pedigree has to think differently to keep pace with the mongrels. It is for the organization to harness the best of both