Know any short / witty anecdotal stories that illuminate a point, lesson or moral? I know these things can be a bit twee or tiresome, but some are actually rather clever and deliver that ‘A ha!’ flash of realisation at the end. It’s especially good if you can’t tell where the story is going.
Two examples of the sort of thing I mean, and then over to the Teeming Millions of Doper Geniuses (TMoDG) to suggest more or point me to sources. (Please and thank you).
This one is good for any introduction to marketing, advertising and running your own business. Obviously, you can adjust to suit your own geographic location.
'On a busy high street in London, someone opens a shoe shop. He puts a sign over the shop saying, ‘Best shoe shop in London’. A little while later, a rival shoe shop opens. Above this new show, the owner puts up a sign saying, ‘Best shoe shop in England.’ Well, wouldn’t you know it, a while later someone opens a third shoe shop. The owner thinks about the signs over the other two shops, and decided he will out-do them. He puts up a sign saying, ‘Best shoe shop in all of Europe!’. More shoe shops follow, and they all try to out-do the previous one. It gets silly. ‘Best shoe shop in the northern hemisphere!’. ‘Best shoe shop in the WORLD!’. ‘Best shoe shop in the UNIVERSE!’.
Finally, along comes someone else who opens a shoe shop. He wonders what he can put on his sign, because it seems all the options are taken. Then he has a brainwave! He opens his shop. Over the shop, he puts a sign saying:
Best shoe shop on this street!
'This is from back in the day when trees were using only an axe. A lumberjack gets a job. He’s really enthusiastic about his work, and he’s good at it. On his first day, he takes his trusty axe, and he manages to chop down 20 huge trees. This is a really impressive total. A few days later, he reckons he must be getting a bit tired, because he only manages 15 trees in a day. The days go by, and a little while later he’s aghast to notice that he’s only managed about 10 trees, even though he reckons he’s trying his hardest. Time goes by, and one day he’s only managed to chop down 4 trees. He’s really worried and he goes to see a friend. He says, ‘I can’t understand it. When I started I could do 20 trees in a day! Now I can only manage 4!’. His friend turns to him and says, ‘Well, let me ask you a question. When’s the last time you sharpened your axe?’.
Lesson: practise the skills you need for your work, keep your skills ‘sharp’, don’t let yourself get ‘rusty’ or ‘blunt’.
Over to the TMDG. Any more, or any online sources?