The Fox and the Hedgehog concept

The Greek poet Archilochus wrote, "the fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

With that, the world was divided into Foxes and Hedgehogs. We either belong to Foxes who see details in everything or to the Hedgehogs who have a great singular vision. 

In his 1953 essay, philosopher Isaiah Berlin used this parable and applied it in, "The Hedgehog and the Fox." He argued that the foxes pursue many goals and interests at the same time. As a result, their thinking is scattered and unfocused, and ultimately, they achieve very little. Hedgehogs, however, simplify the world and focus on a single, overarching vision, which they achieve successfully.

There are good examples how some of the great men were Foxes or Hedgehogs. 

 
Business researcher and consultant, Jim Collins, developed the idea in his classic 2001 book, "Good to Great." Collins argued that organizations will more likely succeed if they can identify the one thing that they do best – their "Hedgehog Concept.

How to Apply the Hedgehog Concept

You can find your organization's Hedgehog Concept by making three separate assessments:

1. Understanding what your people are truly passionate about.

2. Identifying what the organization does better than anyone else.

3. Determining where it's good at generating revenue. (Collins calls this "understanding your economic engine.")

Where all three answers overlap is the "sweet spot" for your organization's strategy, as shown

 

I am quite literally a fox, I take pride being an author, artist and technologist and have different strategies for different problems. But I admire the hedgehogs who focus on one big picture, one grand idea and everything is organized around that vision.


I also think this view is too simplified to categorize cognitive abilities. Professional achievements could hardly be counted as success at personal level for what you become is insignificant without the journey you walked, how you became what you became. To identify person by the title they hold in the system of human constructs is a very shallow, disappointing view. What you aim in life is a personal choice. For hedgehog, it probably is gratifying to have one aim and live that fully, but the fox has more adventurous journey, more fulfilling life.

I also think the fox and Hedgehogs are generalized categorizations. The Fox can learn to compartmentalize every aspect and behave like a hedgehog in that compartmentalized facet. That would be best of both worlds. As a human, we have unique ability to imagine what-ifs, open the doors and explore the unknowns in the imagined territory.