Modern Fable: Lions and gazelles (Dan Montano 1985 July 6)

[Garson O'Toole]

Thomas L. Friedman included a fable about lions and gazelles in his
2005 bestseller "The World is Flat". He labeled it an "African
proverb" and did not attempt to determine its origin.

The story fragment appears in many books and in some of the big
quotation databases, e.g., thinkexist.com and quotationsbook.com. The
source is given as "Unknown". A couple weeks ago, a commenter at the
Freakonomics blog inquired about the tale. Here is the earliest
verified instance I have found. The creator might be Dan Montano of
Montano Securities.

Cite: 1985 July 6, Economist, Insert section: "The other dimension:
Technology and the City of London: A survey", Lions and gazelles?,
Page 37, Economist Newspaper Ltd., London. (Verified on microfilm)

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run
faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a
lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will
starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a
gazelle: when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.

Stockbrokers and bankers at a recent London conference on financial
technology* laughed appreciatively at this sally from Mr. Dan Montano
of Montano Securities, an American equities dealer. They chuckled,
perhaps, a touch indulgently at predictable American excess.

* The Stock Exchange: Deregulation and New Technology: Oyez
International Business Communications. London June 5th and 6th.

Garson

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