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The ‘poison dart frog’ and ‘golden poison frog’ are considered to be the most poisonous frogs in the world. They are mostly distributed in the rain forests in South America. As per the listing of IUCN Red Data Book, both the species of the frogs are considered endangered.

Although they are endangered, three important management lessons the poison dart and golden poison frogs convey to the corporate world.

The poisonous frogs are very conspicuous, have attractively coloured skin that easily invites the attention of everyone. By mistake if someone goes near to them and touch the skin, the poison will do its job, at best. Remember, people who ‘showcase’ their talents in a very attractive way in the corporate are but ‘poisonous frogs’, cognize their talents with a pinch of salt. Truly talented people seldom resort to ‘show business’.

If the corporate leaders and the bosses believe the ‘showiness’ of people to be the true reflection of their talents, they may get disappointed at the end and the result would be like the end of someone if they get attracted by the attractive colouration of the ‘golden poisonous frog’. The ‘showiness’ of people should be taken as warning and one needs to exert caution while reading or taking them on board.

Another important management lesson the poisonous frogs teach the corporate is about the source and origin of their poison, i.e. how and from where the frogs get their poison.

The captive bred poison dart and golden poison frogs were least poisonous when compared to their wild counterparts. Further scientific studies have shown that the frogs get their poison mainly from their food. They eat certain specious poisonous ants in wild and thus accumulate the poison. When in captivity, such food was not fed to them and hence they become least poisonous.

The message is very clear and loud. The bad culture and working style followed and practiced by the top management in the corporate only gets transcribed and translated into the behaviour of people in the corporate.

What you feed, people eat and what people eat only get assimilated and become part of oneself giving them strength and support to live. The corporate leaders need to be aware of this fundamental management insight. What the employees express is nothing but what the corporate want them to express or what the corporate likely to appreciate.

The skirmish and mockery of all dictum & dogmas, the employees engage in the corporate are only because of the prevailing corporate culture and the leadership style displayed by the top management.

The third management insight provided by the ‘golden poison’ and ‘poison dart’ frogs is extremely important. In nature, they are present in the inaccessible part of the rain forest. Rainforest itself is inaccessible and see how smartly the frogs have selected the much more difficult to approach areas in the rain forest as their habitat.

Similarly, the poisonous people in the corporate also mostly will be in the coterie of the top management. They are not so easily traceable or can be approached as they are with the top management. Even if someone in the corporate notices these ‘frogs’ will not dare to pass any comment.

Learn all the valuable management essentials from the poisonous frogs and guide the corporate to a total and complete success.

Dr S Ranganathan, ClinRise Derma Pvt., Ltd., Chennai

Learn more from the management books

1. ‘Jungle wisdom for corporate management – lessons from the university of nature’

by Swami Sukhabodhananda and Dr S Ranganathan

2. ‘Nature – the Entrepreneur’ by Dr S Ranganathan