Parable No. 3

My high school classmate who now lives in Italy (yes, we still keep in touch) sent me an email recently with four parables from which lessons in management can be drawn. Let me share one of the parables with you, this one being my favorite:

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold, the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field.

While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, it began to realize how warm it was. The dung was actually thawing him out!

He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him!

Management Lessons:

1) Not everyone who drops sh- - on you is your enemy.

2) Not everyone who gets you out of sh- - is your friend.

3) And when you’re in deep sh- -, keep your mouth shut!

That last lesson, of course, doesn’t work in the Philippines. The deeper in sh- - we are, the louder we sing–and the more we make and send text jokes. It’s a survival mechanism for the Pinoy; it’s what keeps us from rising up in arms and beheading our inept and corrupt officials. It’s why we have uprisings that are more fiesta than revolution, and why any "serious" movement or effort will not succeed.

Look at the...uh...dung that we’re mired in: an undersecretary too drunk to find his way to the toilet on the presidential airplane; an airport terminal so tied up in controversy it will probably be obsolete before it ever becomes operational. A President who solemnly declares she won’t run and a few months later almost as solemnly announces her candidacy–and from now until next May everything will be determined with an eye on the elections. It is both a strength and a weakness that we can still sing no matter how much sh- - is dumped on us. I just wonder when–if–we will get ourselves out from under the sh- - and take off.