Pigeons are first believed to have been domesticated as early as 3000 BC and have been used as messengers. As early as the 13th century pigeons were used to run a pigeon post system by the Sultan of Baghdad. It is widely documented how Reuters gained substantial market share during the 1850s by pressing pigeons into service to carry messages between places which were still not connected by telegraph or where train connectivity was still very less.
Pigeons have been long used as message carriers because of the following inherent advantages that they had.
- They could reach flying speeds of 90 to 100 km per hour.
- They could fly for very long distances as far as 10,000 kilometers.
- They had a unique sense of direction which helped them stay oriented in the required path.
Pigeons were able to maintain a very good sense of direction because of the following reasons.
- Pigeon’s ears are particularly good at detecting very low frequency sounds called infrasound.
- Pigeon’s ears are also good at detecting very low frequency shock waves which are generated which waves crash against each other in the ocean. This always allows the pigeon to know where the ocean is.
- They can also pick up infrasound reflected from cliffs, mountains, and other structures on the earth’s surface.
- They also have the capability to sense direction as they can sense the magnetic north.
It is this unique combination of capabilities which ensured and made pigeons into the masters’ and most dependable message carriers.
During 1997, a great race was held to celebrate the centenary of the Royal Pigeon Racing association. The race was between Nantes in Southern France to Southern England about 800 kms crossing the English Channel.
The race started at 6.30 am with about 60,000 pigeons getting released from France. By 11 am the birds had started crossing the English Channel and at the flying speed that they were covering they should have reached their destinations by early afternoon. Surprisingly 90% of the birds were never seen again. The balance 10% struggled to their destinations in the next few days. For a long time, no one could figure out what had led to this huge disaster.
What came to light later was that when this race was going on at around 11 am a Concorde supersonic airliner was flying along the English Channel on its daily morning flight from Paris to New York. During flight the Concorde supersonic airliner generates shock waves that pounds down towards the earth. This sound carpet encompasses almost 160 kms in width. The racing pigeons flying below the Concorde could not have escaped the intense wave of sound. The 10% birds who eventually reached were slow starters and escaped the full force of this sound blast and hence though they did get disoriented they were able to get them back over a period and reached the originally planned destinations.
Even in our day to day lives the capability to listen to these ultrasounds will help us stay oriented and in today’s world filled with distractions this becomes a very critical skill to have.
Let’s consider the case when a new initiative is being launched. During the initial launch face the leader and the team driving the activity explain the reason and the process and the way forward etc. and the entire sound frequency is in audible range. When these ideas and plans bounce of the various teams and departments it leads to various discussions and thoughts and opinions which are very often in the infrared range for the leader and his implementation team like the above example.
Seasoned and successful leaders have this capability to read these infrasound’s sometimes even though they are not directly preview to it like the infrasound’s from the seas and the mountains that the pigeons used and hence are able to adapt their plans and strategies accordingly.
What is also unique is that this these infrasound’s vary from organization to organization and hence what might work in one location or organization might not work in another location and hence might not be possible to replicate the same in an as is manner.
These infrasound’s are also present in every market situation from competitors and even from customers. One of the major challenges that we need to guard against is the tendency to be complacent and stop listening to these infra sounds. When we are successfully handling a particular key account or market or position over a period there is a high chance that we become overconfident in our capabilities and understanding of situations that we ignore these infra sounds which could lead to disastrous results later on.
To continue getting more updates or how to keep tracking these infrasound’s which will help us to stay oriented please subscribe to my LinkedIn page, Rejo’s Business Bytes, or my website, RejoFrancis.com
