The Loyal Mongoose - India

Once upon a time in India there was a woman who lived together with her husband, their baby son and their pet mongoose. The small brown mongoose was a brave animal. It could kill any snake no matter how big. The pet mongoose was loyal and always protected the baby the best he could. But in spite of this, the mother did not trust the pet.

One day, the mother went off to the market to buy milk for the baby, leaving him in the care of his father. While she was gone, there were loud screams from the neighbor's house, and the father ran next door to offer his help. The baby was left alone with the trusty mongoose.

Image: Susil Sri Creations

Suddenly a huge cobra slithered into the room, heading straight for the baby's cot. At once the brave mongoose jumped up and attacked the cobra. It was a hard fight, but the faithful mongoose managed to kill the cobra, leaving the snake's blood all over the baby's room.

When the mother came back from the market, she saw the cobra's blood splattered all over the room, and on the mongoose's mouth and paws. Filled with grief and anger, she grabbed it's tail and tossed the mongoose hard against the wall. It was dead instantly.

Then...the baby cried. It lay safe and sound in his cot, the dead snake body underneath it.

Questions 

• Why did the mother instantly kill the mongoose?
• How do you think the mother felt when she discovered her baby safe and sound? And the father?
• Have you ever had regrets after making a decision? 

Management Link 

Upon seeing the bloody mongoose near the baby's cot, the mother in this story immediately killed it. She did not think or blink, nor did she even look around the room; she was overwhelmed with emotions.

Managers have to make a lot of decisions which affect people professionally as well as personally. If you let your emotions take control, you risk taking the wrong decisions. Don't let important decisions be clouded by emotions. As a manager you should always reflect and appraise the situation before making decisions, specially in case of problems. Try to avoid jumping to conclusions. Oh, and when in doubt, sleep on it!

The Big Fat Hen - Asia

In a certain country in Asia there lived an old woman. It is said that she had a pretty hen that laid her a fine egg each morning. She was the envy of all the other women in the village. While other women also had hens, they were not so regular and a little lazy. And when their hens laid eggs they were small and not so tasty.

Image: Susil Sri Creations

The old lady with the fat hen was really proud of her bird. Yet after some time she became used to having fresh eggs and she came up with an idea. What if I give my hen a little bit more corn every day, perhaps then she'll lay two eggs per day. After all, why should I be satisfied with one egg per day only?

As such the woman started to feed her hen twice per day, and she gave her a little bit more to eat each day. The hen grew bigger and bigger, and eventually became very fat. And lazy she became too. She refused to get up on the mornings, and one day, she did not even lay one egg. The villagers were laughing. The old lady's hen had stopped laying eggs all together. The village women appreciated their own small eggs even more...

Questions

• For which reason did they old lady try to improve her hen's egg laying?
• Why were the other villages laughing at her?
• What does this story tell you about improving procedures and innovations?

Management Link

The Americans have a saying: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. In other words: any attempt to improve on a system that is already functional should be carefully considered or it may be detrimental. This story clearly illustrates how this woman's idea of improving her hen's egg laying backfired. Why did she over-feed the hen? Perhaps out of greed, or to impress her fellow villages, or maybe she came from humble beginnings such that eggs were an extremely valued commodity. Who knows?

As a manager you will need to promote innovation in your organization, and to establish good practices. The lesson learned from this tale is to always make sure you carry out a proper (needs) assessment before changing any good system or current practice.

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Sweet as Sugar - Bangladesh

Image: Susil Sri Creations

A mother in Bangladesh was worried about her son's health. The 10-year old boy was overweight and had brown spots on his teeth. All day long he would eat sweets. Five spoons of sugar in his tea, creamy kalojams, delicious katajams, and lots of sponge rosogolla, sweets for whcih Bangladesh is famous. Every day the mother told the boy to cut down on his sweets, but he just wouldn't listen to her.

One day the mother decided to ask for help. She went to see the Mullah with her boy. "My son eats too much sugar, he 's getting fat and I can not afford this", she complained. I ask your lordship to formally forbid hum to eat so much sugar". The Mullah listened attentively, scratched his beard and then told the mother to come back in seven days. When she returned a week later, he told her again to return in seven days. And later he again postponed the meeting by another week, and yet another one. Finally, after four weeks the Mullah summoned the boy.

"Now", he said, I forbid you to east more than three spoons of sugar and two caked per day". The mother was relieved but also puzzled. "Why my lord, did you take so much to give my boy such a simple order?". The Mullah replied: "Because, madam, I had to see whether I myself could cut down on the use of sugar because I could order someone else to do the same..."

Questions

• Why did the mother seek the Mullah's advice?
• What do you think of the Mullah's action?
• Do you agree that a manager should be able to master things him/herself before asking other to perform the same?

Management Link

In this story the wise Mullah was not sure about the task involved. so he wanted to try it out first. This is an admirable act of consideration. As managers you should strive for empathy; part of your role is to be a coach and a 'people's manager'. This does not necessarily mean that managers need to be able to perform all of their staff's tasks. Image the manager of a construction company trying for a week to lay out bricks. Or a manager of a law firm studying each and every law book. This does not make sense. But when it come to core values it does make sense. Managers, more than anyone in the organization, are role models to others.

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Makato and the Cowrie Shell - Thailand

Once upon a time there was a boy named Makato. He was an orphan, and had no friends or family to take care of him. Because he had to make his own living he did all kinds of odd jobs: chopping wood, feeding pigs, clearing and cleaning. He didn't mind to work hard, and despite his small wages he was satisfied with his life.

He was only 4 when his mother passed away, but he remembered some stories she had told about the kind-hearted king of Sukhotai. Ever since he was small he wanted to meet this king. One day, when helping a friend to find food for elephants, he found so many branches that the friend offered him a job to become the assistant of the King's mahout. He worked hard cleaning elephants sheds and finding food. One fine morning Makato's patience and hard work got rewarded: he was to accompany the King's elephant an a parade. As the king mounted the beast, in his splendid, shiny costume, he dropped a tiny cowrie shell. Makato picked it up and held it out to the king. who told him to keep it.

Image: Susil Sri Creations

At the time the people of Sukhotai used cowrie shells as money, and although one little cowrie had little value, he wanted to use it wisely. He went to the market to buy seeds, yet quickly realized he could not even buy the smallest bag of seeds, while he noticed a lettuce seed stall.

"Lady, if I dip my finger into this pile of seeds, can I take those that stick to my finger for one cowrie?", he asked. "Well why not", replied the sales lady, amused by his suggestion. Makato carefully scraped the seeds from his finger and planted them, watering the tiny sprouts daily, until the garden was covered in fresh, green lettuce. Proud as he was, he offered to king his first produce.

"Where did you get these, my boy?" the king asked surprised, and Makato told him the story. He king was impressed by so much intelligence and industry that he offered him a fixed position at the palace.

Questions

• Why do you think the lettuce women agreed to let Makato dip the seeds? 
• Have you ever asked someone a favor? Was the favor awarded?
• What can you learn from this story from Makato's point of view?
• What do you think about the king's perspective?

Management Link
Apart from being a dedicated hard worker Makato has shown initiative and creativity to make something of his life. This story nicely illustrates an Afghan proverb: 'one who does not appreciate the apple, won't appreciate the orchard'. There is also the perspective of the king, who was loved, generous and considerate. He is 'the wise man in the background'. As managers we should aim to inspire by rewarding determination, creativeness and the small efforts of all employees, not only of the big people. Managers need to create an enabling environment for all staff, from the cleaning lady and office clerks to the top sales representatives.

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The Crab Family - Sri Lanka

Once upon a time, on the sunny beaches of Tangalle - a fishing village in southern Sri Lanka - there lived a crab with her family. On a beautiful morning the mother crab and her young daughter went for a stroll. The crashing waves made lovely music to their ears. The palm trees waved to and fro in the breeze. Children were playing happily on the beach, finding shade under the palm trees and watching the scene. The crab mother became self conscious of so many people watching her and her daughter. She looked at her child and was suddenly horrified by the way she was walking. She imagined how others would see her, how awful. 'Girl', she says sternly, 'why do you shuffle sideways when you walk? You look funny, so graceless. Everybody is watching...you must learn how to walk straight!'

The little crab girl, deeply hurt, retorted at once: 'Well mother, I was only copying you. I thought this is the way to walk, since you walk like that. If you don't like it, why don't you walk straight yourself, and I will do as you do'. The mother crab stopped. She concentrated and made a big effort to walk straight forward. She fell down, but tried again. And again. She was swaggering so funnily that all children on the beach started to laugh. 'Ha-ha-ha', they laughed, pointing at this silly crab who tried to walk straight.

Questions

• Was the crab's daughter right to ask her mother to walk straight?
• Have you ever been asked to change something you were not able to? How did it feel?
• What does this story tell you about criticizing other people?

Management Link

As managers you will have to give regular feedback to your staff. One of the Golden Rules* of Giving Feedback is that the receiver of feedback is able to do something with it. Giving feedback is not the same as giving advice, nor praise or criticism. Criticizing people for who they are, how they speak or how they look can offend people. Good feedback allows a person to develop and grow, and to make his or her own decision on how to change. Constructive feedback is saying: 'when you come late to the office it gives me the impression you don't care about your work', in stead of: 'you should come to work on time'. Targets have to be realistic and achievable.

* For more information on the 10 Golden Rules of Feedback, contact MDF, info@mdf.nl

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