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| Hi Audrey,
I'm shaking it up a bit this week. As I've been working with clients this week, I've found myself using parables and fables quite often to illustrate leadership and entrepreneurship principles. I thought that I'd share a few of those with you today.
I hope you get something out of this, but if you don't and you decide to unsubscribe, I'll buy you a coffee for wasting your time.
Yep, I'm serious, just unsubscribe and I'll send you a gift card for a free coffee. |
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| Parable #1 — "The $10,000 Button Press”
A few years ago, a computer failed at a Doctor's office in downtown Denver. This wasn't just any computer, it was the computer that held all of the Doctor's most important records, and even the software that allowed him to open the doors to his practice was corrupted. In fact, it was so important that even a backup copy wouldn't be able to get back all of the information that had been lost.
No one could fix it. For weeks they hired consultant after consultant to try and fix the computer, but no one had any success. Not even their brightest young engineers could figure out what was wrong. Every day that the computer was down lost the Doctor thousands of dollars in revenue.
So he called for a different kind of help.
He brought in an engineer with thirty years of experience on the job. He inspected the computer very carefully. Top to bottom. After looking things over for a few minutes, he sat back and smiled and pressed just one button on the computer and all of the records and systems miraculously came back to life.
The computer was fixed!
A week later, the Doctor received a bill for $10,000. “What?!" he gasped.
“He hardly did anything! Tell him to send us an itemized bill.”
When the Doctor received the itemized bill it read:
- Diagnosing The Problem - $0.00
- Pressing the Button - $5.00
- Knowing Which Button to Press - $9.995
Moral of the Story — We must understand that people don't pay for our time, they pay for our SOLUTIONS. |
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| Parable #2 —"The Mexican Fisherman"
An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat, were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, “Only a little while."
The American then asked why the Fisherman didn't stay out longer and catch more fish? The Fisherman replied he simply had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.
The American then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican Fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.”
The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat."
"Then, with the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually, you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA, and eventually New York City, where you could run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “15 to 20 years.”
“But what then?” asked the Mexican fisherman.
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!”
“Millions – then what?”
The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."
Moral of the Story — We often lose sight of what we have because we are focused on the wrong things. |
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Parable #3 — "The Five Monkeys"
Researchers created a comfortable zoo-like habitat for five monkeys, in order to do an experiment.
When the monkeys had sufficiently adapted to their new home and had forged some relationships, a bundle of bananas was presented to them, a treat they rarely had in ordinary feeding. To get to the bananas, the monkey needed to climb a ladder to get to them.
On the first trial, the bananas were presented, and all five monkeys started to climb the ladder to get them. Once all the monkeys were on the ladder, they were sprayed with ice-cold water, which scared and agitated them. They gave up on the bananas for a time. Later, the bravest of the bunch attempted to climb the ladder again, only to be met with a blast of the cold water, all five of them, even the ones who hadn't attempted the ladder.
The third time, one of the monkeys went to mount the ladder, the other four became agitated and growled and pushed at the brave monkey until he gave up on trying to get to the ladder. The monkeys from then on reminded the others that to be on the ladder was a certain cold shower.
At some point, one of these monkeys was replaced with a new monkey, one who was not familiar with the habitat. Instinctively, he made for the ladder and was immediately pushed and threatened by the others. He eventually gave up his quest for fear of being beaten by the others.
Eventually, a second new monkey had replaced an original. Interestingly, the first replacement, one who was never sprayed with water, joined the others in rebuking and threatening the newcomer as she tried to get to the bananas. The same phenomenon was observed as they replaced the third and fourth monkeys.
Finally, the researchers replaced the fifth monkey with a newcomer, making five monkeys in the habitat that had never been punished with cold water for climbing on the ladder. The new one, as expected, went climbing up the ladder, and the other four, as before, screamed and threatened her until she gave up and went to do something else.
Moral of the Story — Just because everyone around you thinks that what you're doing is wrong doesn't mean that it is. Press on and do what you know is right. |
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Parable #4 — The Two Wolves
An old man was teaching his grandson about life...
"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.
"It's a terrible fight between two wolves."
One is evil, angry with envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego.
The other is good. He is full of joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.
"This same fight is going on inside you — and inside every other person too," the grandpa said.
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked, "Which wolf will win?"
The old man simply replied," The one I feed."
Moral of the Story — That to which you give your energy is the outcome that you will manifest. Focus your thoughts on the positive. |
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| Thanks for reading!
Have feedback to share with me? Which above was your favorite? Want more or less of something? Have other suggestions?
Send a reply to this email and let me know. I'm always open to new ideas if you have something cool or interesting that you think I should know and/or write about in the next, Black Coffee Friday.
That's it for now... talk soon!
Chad |
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