The Bumble bee Effect 🐝

Short and stubby, the bumble bee doesn't look very flight-worthy at all. You've heard the old law of physics that a bumble bee can't fly. In the 1930s, French entomologist August Magnan even noted that the insect's flight is actually impossible, a notion that has stuck in popular consciousness since then.

The bumble bee has become an icon in many leading companies, inspiring their people and the world that the impossible is possible. To me, this is one of my favourite mottos in life. When I am told that I will never be able to do something, I always face 2 choices: 1: Come what may- give it my all to try and achieve this, OR choose 2: Never even giving it a go, other’s opinions matters more. The reward is so much more satisfying choosing 1.

Every aerodynamic principle says that the bumble bee’s wing span is too short to support its massive body in flight. But a bumble bee doesn't know that. It never took physics. It just flies around all over the place.

NASA has a poster with bumble bees hanging at their Science Centre that reads: "Aerodynamically a bumble bee's body is not made to fly; the good thing is that the bee doesn't know".

This is what we can all do. Fly and prevail in every moment in the face of any difficulty and in any circumstance despite what they say. Let us be bumble bees, no matter the size of our wings, we take flight and enjoy the pollen of life.