Day 9: The Tireless Beetle vs. The Serene Swan

Some carry the load without applause. Others move through the spotlight without touching the floor.
And somewhere in between lies a quiet imbalance — between effort and attention, between what sustains and what shines.

Yesterday, the Salmon swam against the current while the Sardines moved in sync — a reflection on direction and belonging. Today, we move from movement to labour. To what gets done, and who gets noticed. Because while results are often visible, the work behind them isn’t always shared.

Two creatures. One deep in the details. One gliding just above them. And both are essential to how teams function — or fracture.

🐞 The Tireless Beetle

You don’t always see them. But their fingerprints are everywhere.

They’re the ones who handle what others skip—the backlog, the broken process, and the end-of-project clean-up. They pick up the forgotten pieces, tie up the loose ends, and often work long after the final slide has been presented.

Their contribution isn’t glamorous, but it’s foundational. And often invisible.

Tasks come to them framed as “great opportunities” — a chance to “develop skills,” to “show leadership,” to “step up.” But behind the language lies a pattern: the Beetle absorbs the burden so others don’t have to.

They don’t protest. They don’t complain. But they do disappear — not physically, but perceptually. Their absence is only felt when something breaks. Their presence is taken for granted until the cracks begin to show.

They keep the machine running while everyone else praises the interface.

The challenge isn’t just the volume of work. It’s the lack of recognition, the slow fading of visibility that comes from always being reliable and rarely being seen.

🦢 The Serene Swan

And then there’s the Swan.

Composed. Graceful. Above the fray.

They’re unflappable in meetings. In moments of tension, they speak softly—if at all. Their emails are clean, timely, and diplomatic. Their posture is impeccable, and their calendars are curated. They seem to float effortlessly through the chaos, a symbol of professional serenity.

Their calm reassures people. Or distances them.

Because what’s serene from a distance can feel detached up close. While others are buried in deliverables, the Swan stays high-level. While teammates feel the pressure, the Swan holds the posture — but not the load.

To be fair, they’ve earned their place. They’ve done the work to be here. But sometimes, in trying to stay composed, they drift from the very work that makes their grace possible.

They are the polished exterior. But every exterior rests on structure. And when they lose sight of that, admiration becomes resentment.

The challenge isn’t to stop gliding. It’s to remember what keeps them afloat.

🔍 The Reflection

Every organisation has its Beetles — quiet, tireless, and often buried under essential but thankless work. And every organisation celebrates its Swans — graceful, visible, and composed under pressure.

The problem isn’t that one works harder. It’s that one works in the shadows.

The Beetle risks burnout and invisibility. The Swan risks detachment and over-idealisation. Between the two lies the unspoken truth: admiration without connection breaks trust, and contribution without recognition breaks people.

So ask yourself: Are you carrying more than people realise? Or are you floating above something you no longer feel?

And what would it take for the load — and the spotlight — to be better shared?

📌 Did You Know?

Dung beetles — yes, beetles — are among the world’s strongest insects relative to their body size. Some species can pull over 1,000 times their weight. They clean ecosystems by recycling waste, often working unnoticed, unseen, and underappreciated. Their impact is real — even if their image isn’t glamorous.

Swans, by contrast, are symbols of elegance and power. But what we see on the surface — gliding smoothly across a lake — hides the truth beneath: frantic, determined paddling just under the waterline. Swans work hard. But over time, the performance of grace can turn into the pressure to appear calm at all costs.

At work, we often reward the visible. But the most critical labour may be happening just out of sight.

📚 References

• Scholtz, C.H., et al. (2009). Evolutionary Biology and Ecology of Dung Beetles

• Perry, C. (2017). “The Psychology of Effort Invisibility.” Psychology Today

• Brown, B. (2015). Rising Strong

• Harvard Business Review (2022). “The Hidden Burden of Being Reliable at Work”