Saturday, November 24, 2007

The things that get rewarded, get done.

A weekend fisherman looked over the side of his boat and saw a
snake with a frog in its mouth. Feeling sorry for the frog, he
reached down, gently removed it from the snake’s mouth and let
it goes free. But now he felt sorry for the hungry snake. Having
no food, he took out a flask of bourbon and poured a few drops
into the sneak’s mouth. The snake swam away happy,
the frog was happy, and the fisher man was happy for having
performed such good deeds. He thought all was well until a few
minutes passed and he heard something knock against the side
of his boat. The fisherman looked down and with stunned
disbelief, he saw the snake was back – this time with two frogs!

This fable carries two important messages:
(1) You get what you reward.
(2) We often reward inappropriate behaviors, while ignoring – or
even punishing – correct ones.

Michael LeBoeuf.
“The greatest Management Principle in the world”

1 comment:

Jyotsana said...

Hah! I like this one! - jyotsana