Apparently, an Ig Nobel Prize-winning experiment has inspired use of a new slogan in the business world. The Transomeme blog says:
At the recent 23rd First Annual IgNobel Prize ceremony, the Anthropology award went to the researchers that studied what happens when shrew bones pass through the human digestive system. I’m not kidding.
Rather than building a complex system or model mimicking the human gut, they used an actual human digestive tract. One of the brave researchers on the team swallowed a parboiled shrew (in three easy pieces). The team members then collected the bones excreted (ahem) by the volunteer over the next several days and compared them to the bones of a full shrew skeleton. That’s dedication.
What does this have to do with running a small business?
Is there an area of your business where you are creating complex systems and models when the most effective answer might simply be: swallow the shrew? …
BONUS: Video which purports to show the remains of a shrew that encountered a pitcher plant (thanks to Tom Gill for bringing this to our attention):
BONUS: Why do shrews twitter?
BONUS (only partially related): Dining on dormice
BONUS (thanks to Tom Gill): a BBC 4-minute documentary on the topic “Some pitcher plants are so big they can trap and drown a rat“.