Readers may be interested to know that this incident derives from a story from
the time of the Roman kings. Tarquinius Superbus needed to relate a message
to his son Sextus, as to how to handle the local patricians in the city of Gabii,
who opposed his father. Not wanting to put a dangerous message in the hands
of the messenger, TS walked through his garden and knocked off the heads of
the tallest poppies with his walking stick. He told the messenger to relate his
actions to his son. Whereupon his son Sextus killed all the most prominent men
in Gabii, and opened the gates to the Roman armies to occupy the city.
Chris Power
Tall Trees, Tall Thinking and Tall Poppies
By Jennifer Goddard | May 4, 2008
BNET Australia Contributors
Aussie Rules
Biography
BNET Australia Contributors
Brian Haverty is editorial director for CBS Interactive Australia and is responsible for the company's BNET and ZDNet Australia sites.
Robert Gerrish is a coach, author and professional speaker and the founder of Flying Solo, an Australian online community for solo business owners.
Melissa Lourenco is the HR manager for CBS Interactive in Australia.
Chris Golis is the author of The Humm Handbook: Lifting Your Level of Emotional Intelligence. He runs seminars and workshops on EQ.
Suzi Dafnis is Community Director of the Australian Businesswomen's Network.
Yvonne Adele helps organisations build a culture of ideas by teaching people at all levels to access their untapped creative thinking skills.
A recent visit to Western Australia got me thinking about the impact of the tall poppy syndrome in innovation. While walking along the unique 40-metre-high platform in the Valley of the Giants (400-year-old Tingle Trees, some of the world’s largest), I was impressed with the innovative approach to preserve these unique trees from increasing number of visitors. It took courage and a unique perspective to solve the problem and then raise the funds to build this very successful project. Most innovative projects require enormous effort and championing to be successful. It is interesting to note that many people are hesitant in being linked to a successful project or getting a high profile in their organisation to avoid being seen as a tall poppy (someone that needs to be cut down to size).
Philip Bowring writes “But where once the ‘tall poppy syndrome’ was a source of pride for many Australians, it is now widely viewed as an obstacle to success, wealth creation and excellence. None other than [former] prime minister John Howard has argued, ‘If there’s one thing we need to get rid of in this country it is our tall poppy syndrome’.”
Food for thought …
Do you know of anyone who has suffered from the tall poppy syndrome?
What do you do to support your team and celebrate their success?
Do you need to rethink your attitude to successful people?
More from “Aussie Rules”
Talkback 1 Talkback
Tall poppy origins
chris power
05/28/2008 07:33 AM
