Leadership: Rats Save Lives

Here's today's hot news.

Rats are now saving human lives.

Here's how.

You must know that leftover land mines are a major problem in many parts of the world. (I have long proposed that we could end all wars by requiring the participants to file an environmental impact statement before starting, but that's another article.)

For example, it's estimated that there are 40 million mines buried in Africa.

Finding these land mines is difficult because: a) they are designed to be difficult to find, and b) they are designed to explode when disturbed.

As a result, clearing these mines is slow, dangerous work.

Until now.

Bart Weetjens, from Belgium, has trained rats to find land mines.

[  Important Note: the rats FIND the mines so that people can remove them. No rats are harmed during this activity.  ]

This has notable advantages.

1) Rats are so small that they don't cause a significant (as in bad) disturbance when they scurry about on the ground.

2) Rats enjoy performing repetitive tasks that earn a reward (food). So Bart Weetjens is helping rats find fulfillment as useful members of the global community.

3) Rats do not require insurance, expect raises, or hire attorneys. The rats also arrive on time, follow directions, and appear grateful when paid (fed). You might say that they make the ideal employees.

4) Rats are not discouraged by high risk assignments. In addition this is a much better job than most other careers currently available for rats, such as working in a research lab.

5) Rats are much more efficient and cost effective than any current technology using people. A rat can perform a day's work (for a human) in about 15 minutes. They are also easy to transport, train, and replace.

This is an excellent example of beyond the box thinking.

Now, if we only could get rats to eliminate spam.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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