Donna Highfill
  • Home
  • About
    • About Donna
    • What People Are Saying
    • My Other Blogs
      • Dame Nation Blog
      • Huffington Post
  • Services
    • Power Up BUSINESS
    • Coaching
  • Books and Tools
  • Blog
    • Fave Products
  • Contact Me

Crows: God’s Little Change Agents

AndrewChange StoriesNo commentsJuly 15, 2010

Crows are the most natural of change agents according to National Geographic and a young man named Joshua Klein. Both sources have spent years studying crows, and have discovered that they have an amazing intelligence and ability to adapt. I love Josh Klein’s perspective – he said we always study animals that are going extinct, when we should be studying those that are smart enough to change and adapt. I have to agree, and I never doubted the intelligence of crows for a minute. Here’s my story as to why crows have always been my heroes.

When I was eight-years-old, I had a variety of illnesses that required me to stay indoors for almost a year. Due to a lack of money, I had to stay by myself each day which was a little overwhelming for a fourth grader. I would watch my brother and sister leave for school, my parents leave for work, and would then face long hours with a lot of silence. The worst part was that for the first few months I had to stay indoors, losing all my Vitamin D and warmth that our Southern California sun provided.

After a few months long months (which convinced me I could never live in Alaska) I was allowed to sit in our small backyard for thirty minutes a day. That was excellent news . . . the only problem was that our neighborhood wasn’t the safest place to live and the yard backed up to an alley which made me a little nervous. But I refused to miss the opportunity to soak up the sun.

My first day out, I plopped in my lounge chair, turning it towards the sun which was hanging cheerfully over the telephone wires that were above our back fence. Immediately I heard a noise in the alley (which turned out to be a cat), and my heart began to pound. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the warmth. Then I heard the welcoming rustle of wings. I looked up to see my first visitors of the day –a large black crow that settled on the telephone wire directly above me. He looked directly at me, and I felt a little less alone.

Next came three more crows, lining up like a military unit next to their buddy. I began to smile, as more and more crows joined our backyard party.  Eventually there were at least twenty crows sitting above me, chatting and laughing (I swear) the entire time I sat outside. When I got up from my lounge chair to go inside at the end of my thirty minutes, they waited until I closed the sliding glass door of the house, and slowly began to leave. 

For the rest of that year, no matter what time I came to sit in the backyard, my crows would join me within one to two minutes of sitting down. I don’t know how they knew the exact time, since it varied between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m., but they did. I started to recognize some of them — one had a wing that was missing a lot of feathers, one was unusually fat, one seemed more brown than black. I never fed them, so I’m not sure what the benefit of that time offered them, but they were a tremendous benefit to me. I named them, talked to them, and thoroughly enjoyed their company.

So, I’m not amazed that crows have intelligence and a remarkable ability to adapt to change. Watch the video below, it’s absolutely amazing. And to my crows, thank you for taking care of a lonely, sick, scared eight-year-old who needed your company and to whom you so generously gave your time.

Watch: The Amazing Intelligence of Crows

Tags: adapability, Change, Change Stories, donna highfill, featured, highfill performance group, joshua klein

Related Articles

Creating Buzz with Kanye and Conversations

July 18, 2011Andrew

3 C.H.I.P.S. Tips on How Not to Influence

November 3, 2010Andrew

Is Being an Entrepreuner All That? Ask a Dolphin!

October 18, 2010Andrew

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Learn How to Tell a Better Story and Achieve Success!

Sign up below to receive 48 FREE Energizing Messages.

Connect with Me

Email
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest

Recent Posts

  • A Cab Driver Who Appeared as if from Nowhere
  • Here’s Some Honesty For You
  • Laughter is My Hero
  • A New Year in Old Clothes
  • Why I Will Face the Fall

CHECK OUT MY BOOK

highfillcover

As a leader, do you implement change only to watch the projects, processes and initiatives stall because you can’t get the people driving them to change? In my new book Real People, Real Change: Stories of a Change Warrior in the Business World I share real stories to illustrate how leaders can move people to action.

Archives

Where Donna Will Be Speaking Next

  • April 22, 2015 - SunTrust Women's Networking Group
  • April 23, 2015 - SunTrust Women's Networking Group
  • May 12, 2015 - LPGA Championship, Kingsmill, Williamsburg VA
  • May 21, 2015 - Education Association of Fundraising Professionals, Eerie, PA

Certified_hi-res

mbti_certified
huffbadge

Learn How to Tell a Better Story and Achieve Success!

Sign up below to receive 48 FREE Energizing Messages.

Recent Posts

  • A Cab Driver Who Appeared as if from Nowhere August 9, 2017
  • Here’s Some Honesty For You March 16, 2017
  • Laughter is My Hero January 10, 2017

Contact Me

804-370-6665
[email protected]
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright
  • About Donna
  • Contact Me
Copyright Donna Highfill 2014