The Whale Hunting business development practice is inspired by the ancient wisdom of the Inuit people and their powerful collaborative processes. Their preparation and skill enabled a small village of ordinary people to set out to sea in a sealskin boat and, against great odds, bring home the largest creature on earth to sustain them for a year.
There’s powerful advice for modern in how they conducted the annual whale hunt:
- have a clearly defined process and follow it
- involve everyone, with clearly delineated roles
- manage risk through relentless preparation
- teach the process and roles to everyone, all the time
- understand that the hunt is how we survive and thrive
- have reverence for the whales and treat them with respect
The photo above illustrates an “Inuksuk” — a massive stone structure that the Inuit raised all over their barren land to guide the way or to mark the location of people or supplies. Clearly they had tremendous work processes to accomplish almost unbelievable feats of power. Is everyone in your company thinking like the Inuit?
