Give`em Only What They Need

A young Minister and his family were transferred to a small rural community.  On the eve of his first Sunday, a major snow storm hit the area.  When he and his family awoke on Sunday morning, there was nearly three feet of snow outside. "Do you think we’ll be able to have a service today?" his wife asked.

 

"Quite honestly, no," he replied.  "I just don't see how anyone will be able to make it to church through all this snow."

Well, two minutes before the start of the scheduled service, a loud engine roar was heard in the distance.  When the family ran to the windows, they saw a farmer driving his big John Deere tractor and he was heading straight for the church. When the farmer arrived in front of the church, he jumped down off the seat.

The Minister ran out to greet him and the farmer said, "Reverend, I hope you don’t mind me driving my tractor this morning, but I just couldn’t make it through all this snow with my car."  Then the farmer realized the parking lot was empty and he was the only person at the church.

"Maybe you weren’t planning on holding services today?" he inquired.

 

"Not at all.  We are glad you are here, please come in.  We would be delighted to hold a service for you," replied the Minister.  As they walked into the church, his wife began to play the organ and his children, who were sitting in the choir loft, began to sing.

About an hour and a half later when the Minister finished his sermon, he walked to the back of the church, stood by the door and personally thanked the farmer for attending his first service in his new community.  Curious as to how he did, the Minister asked the farmer, "Did you enjoy the service this morning?" 

 

"I sure did," said Farmer Brown, "but to tell you the truth Preacher, it may have been just a bit too much."

"Too much?" replied the Minister.  "What do you mean, too much?"

 

"Well you see Preacher, I am just a simple farmer. The only responsibility I have is to feed my cows when they come home from the fields each night.  Once in a while after a big storm like this, only a few cows will make it back to the barn. Whenever that happens, I never ever give them the entire load of hay. I only give 'em what they need."

Why do Government Officials Make Dumb Decisions?

There was an international conference held in Paris a few years back and engineers from around the globe flew in to attend.  After morning-long seminars, they broke for lunch.  Upon walking out of the meeting rooms, they heard the Japanese coastline had been hit hard by a massive tsunami.

As the attendees funneled into a banquet room for lunch, they listened to the radio broadcasts.  It was announced that the President of the United States had authorized the deployment of two aircraft carriers to Japan.  Immediately, a few of the European engineers in line began to chuckle.   They said,  "How dumb is that?  The President of the United States is sending two aircraft carriers to Japan.  What does he intend to do, bomb the Japanese?"

An engineer from the Boeing corporation who was behind them in line commented, "An American aircraft carrier has three hospitals on board that can treat over five hundred people per day.  They are all nuclear powered so they can supply unlimited emergency electrical power to many facilities on shore.   They have three cafeterias with a capacity to feed up to 6,000 people three meals a day for up to 90 days without any need to resupply. 

He went on to say that they are also equipped with a sophisticated desalination system that can produce 40,000 gallons of fresh water from seawater each day.  Finally, he pointed out that all US carriers sail from port with a minimum of six helicopters on board.  Each helicopter can be used to transport victims to safety or any injured back to the ship for needed medical attention.

He then looked at the European engineers who scoffed at the dumb idea of the US President sending two aircraft carriers to Japan and said, "America has eleven such ships.  How many similar ships do your countries have?'

The European engineers stood silent.

The Canoe Race

A Chinese corporation challenged its American competitor to a canoe race.  The challenge was simple:  Each company would form a canoe racing team and the teams would race 'three miles' down the Mississippi.  Without hesitation, the American firm accepted the challenge.

The American company assembled its canoe racing team which it titled the CRT.  The CRT practiced three hours every day.  When race day arrived, the Chinese team won by almost a mile.  Feeling sorry for its American competitor, the Chinese executives offered to host a rematch in one year. The American firm readily accepted the new  challenge.

Word spread quickly throughout the American company that their CRT loss the race and every American employee was stunned.  Worse yet, morale within the company began to sag.  Senior executives were adamant to determine why their CRT suffered such a crushing defeat.

 

A special committee, the Canoe Racing Fact Finding Committee or CRFFC was created and given two responsibilities:

    1) Determine the cause for the CRT's loss, and

    2) Recommend strategies for next year's CRT.

The CRFFC got right to work.  After an exhaustive investigation, it concluded the primary reason the CRT lost was because the Chinese team had seven people paddling and one person steering, whereas their CRT had only one person paddling and seven people trying to steer.

The CRFFC made the following recommendations:

First, The CRT needed to be restructured. The CRFFC suggested a position of 'Director of Canoeing' or DC be created.  The DC would be the sole person responsible for how the canoe was steered.  Since this was a such a critical position the CRFFC suggested the Director be assigned two deputy Directors called D/DC's; one D/DC would develop canoe steering procedures and the other D/DC would implement effective steering policies.

Second, to ensure every steering direction given by the DC was clearly understood, the CFFC recommended four Canoe Area Steering Managers or CASM's be hired.  The CASM's would sit in critical areas of the canoe and relay the DC's steering directions.

Third, the CRFFC recommended firing the current canoe paddler and hiring a new paddling team.  The new paddling team would be big, strong and possess great canoe skills.  The new Canoe Paddling Team would be called the CPT. 

Fourth, the CRFFC recommended a special compensation for the CPT.  The CRFFC believed the CPT should be compensated based on merit - meaning if  the CPT won the race, the CPT would receive a substantial bonus.  The CRFFC believed a bonus incentive would ensure the CPT paddled harder.  The CRFFC suggested this new  compensation system be called the "Canoe Paddling Performance Compensation System"  or CPPCS for short.  

Fifth, the CFFC felt the CPT should attend all CRT meetings.  Having the DC, his D/DC's  and the CASM's along with the CPT in the meetings would ensure everyone had input on the CRT strategies.  

Sixth, to keep the CPT motivated during the year the CRFFC asked the Human Resources Department (HRD) to develop an employee slogan such as "Quality Canoeing Wins Races."  HRD ordered Quality Canoeing Wins Races lapel pins, pens, coffee mugs, bumper stickers, signs, and memo pads, etc.,  which were distributed to all company employees.  

As the year progressed, the CPT, DC, D/DC's and the CASM's practiced every day and held weekly staff meetings. HRD kept passing out the "Quality Canoeing Wins Races" incentives.  Soon the second race day arrived and this time the Chinese company won by almost two miles.

Furious over this second loss, senior management decided to:

   1)  Terminate the CPT, the DC, the D/DC and the CSAM's

        citing failure to achieve objectives;

   2)  Cancel all future CRT investments and expenditures;

   3)  Sell the all the CRT equipment including canoe,

        paddles, life preservers and trailer.

Senior executives did, however, feel the establishment of the CRT was a bold, forward thinking endeavor.  To thank all employees who sat on the CFFRC for their hard work and for displaying such initiative and exerting great creativity, senior executives decided to reward them all with a sizable year-end bonus.  

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What Goes Around Comes Around

His name was Fleming and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day while working in his field, he heard a cry for help. He dropped his tools and ran to the nearby bog as fast as he could.

There, stuck up to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself.  Fleming sprung into action and saved the boy from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse farm.  An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming saved the day before.

"I want to repay you for saving my son's life," said the nobleman.

 

"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied waving off any thought of an offer.  At that moment, Fleming’s son came to the door of the family hovel.

"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked.

 

"Yes," the farmer replied proudly.

 

"Then I'll make you a deal.  Let me provide your son with the same level of education as my own son will enjoy.  If your lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow up to be a man we can both be proud of."

Farmer Fleming agreed to this arrangement and his son, as promised, attended the very best schools in England and ultimately graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London.  He went on to become known throughout the world as Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Unfortunately this story doesn’t end here, for you see years later, the nobleman's son – the boy who got stuck in the bog and was saved by Sir Fleming's father - was stricken with pneumonia and nearly died.  What saved his life this time was a new miracle drug called Penicillin. 

The name of the nobleman who paid for the education of farmer Fleming's son was Lord Randolph Churchill ... His son, the boy who fell in the bog and later nearly died from pneumonia, was Sir Winston Churchill.

Maybe it’s true?  What goes around comes around.

Two Sheets of Paper

Late one Friday afternoon, Ms. Simpson handed out two sheets of paper to each of the students in her class.  She asked the students to list the names of all their classmates on the two sheets  paper – instructing them to leave a big space between each name they wrote down.   

She then told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about that classmate, then write that thought under the person's name.  She gave her class one hour to complete this assignment.  When the time was up, she had the students turn in their papers as they left the room.  

Over the weekend, Ms. Simpson sat at her dining room table and recorded all the things her students had written down. On Monday morning, Ms. Simpson handed each student the individual list she compiled and gave them a few minutes to read it.  All the students beamed large smiles as they read what their classmates had said about them.  Ms. Simpson was glad she had used the exercise to fill up time on a Friday afternoon.

She never mentioned this assignment again and never knew if the students discussed their papers after class or even shared them with their parents. The school year ended and all of her students moved on.  For some reason, she never found the time or had the desire to repeat that exercise with any subsequent classes.

Several years passed when Ms. Simpson learned one of her former students was killed in Afghanistan and she decided to attend his funeral.  The church was packed with family and friends and many, including Ms. Simpson, walked up to the casket to pay their last respects.  

As she returned to her seat, a soldier in his dress uniform approached her and asked, "Are you Ms. Simpson - Were you Mark's teacher?"  She nodded 'yes.'  He said, "Mark talked about you a lot when we were in Afghanistan – he really enjoyed having you as his teacher.  He said you were the best teacher he ever had."

Following the funeral service, a luncheon was served in the church basement and Ms. Simpson decided to attend. Just as she finished her lunch, Mark's mother and father walked over to her.  Mark's mom said, "We’d like to thank you for coming and we want to show you something."  Mark's father took out his wallet.   He carefully removed two worn pieces of paper that had been folded and refolded numerous times and were now covered in several layers of scotch tape.

He said, "They found this on Mark when he was killed.  We thought you might recognize it."  Ms. Simpson immediately knew what those two pieces of paper were.  They were the papers on which she listed all the good things Mark's classmates had said about him.

"Thank you so much for doing this," Mark's mom said.  "Mark was so proud the day he brought these papers home - he could not stop talking about them - and, as you can see, he treasured it all his life."

Soon several of Ms. Simpson's former students, the classmates of Mark who also attended the luncheon, came forward and gathered around her.  Charlie smiled sheepishly and was the first to speak, "I still have my list, Ms. Simpson. It's in the top drawer of my dresser at home.  I look at it almost every night before I go to bed." 

Chuck's wife said, "Chuck had me put ours in our wedding album.  We show them off all the time."

"I have mine too," Marilyn said.  "It's in my diary."

Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her purse, took out her billfold and pulled out her worn and frazzled list for the group.  "I carry mine with me at all times."

Without batting an eyelash, Wanda said, "I think we all saved our lists."  

That’s when Ms. Simpson sat down at a table and  began to cry.  She cried not only for Mark and all his friends but also for all the students she had taught throughout the years that she never took the time to repeat this effortless exercise.

Having a lasting impact on those we meet in life is easier than most of us think.  Once in awhile we need to take time out of our busy schedule to point out the nice things we see in those around us, the ones we work with and the ones we serve.