Powerful story telling challenge: Harvard MBA and the fisherman

By Rajesh Setty on Tue 09 Aug 2005, 9:47 PM – 4 Comments

Yesterday I posted about the power of story telling and how it can

mislead us. Here is a quick challenge. Here is the story (I am

confident that you would have read this story)

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An American tourist meets a Mexican fisherman resting on the shore. He asks him how long he goes to fish everyday”Not very long,” answered the Mexican.

“But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the American.

The Mexican fisherman explained that his approach is to only catch how much ever he and his family needs on that day.

The American asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

“I

sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta

with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends,

have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs…I have a

full life.”

The American interrupted, “I have an MBA from

Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every

day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra

revenue, you can buy a bigger boat. With the extra money the larger

boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on

until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your

fish to a middle man, you can negotiate directly with the processing

plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this

little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York

City. From there you can direct your huge enterprise.”

“How long would that take?” asked the Mexican.

“Ten, perhaps twelve years,” replied the American.

“And after that?”

“Afterwards?

That’s when it gets really interesting,” answered the American,

laughing. “When your business gets really big, you can start selling

stocks and make millions!”

“Millions? Really? And after that?”

“After

that, you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast,

sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta

with your wife, and spend your evenings having a few drinks and enjoy

your friends.”

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Possible conclusions:

a) MBA is useless

b) Enjoy life right now

c) Don’t go on a wild goose chase

d) Goals are absurd

e) many more..

Challenge:

The story has a serious flaw. If you think through this for a few

minutes you will identify the flaw. The first ten (US residents only)

people that will send me an email [ rs “at” lifebeyondcode “dot” com]

with the flaw will get a discount coupon [50% off] for my upcoming book

“Beyond Code” (due to be

released early October 2005). My only request is that if you like the

book, post a review on Amazon.com or blog about it

I have already posted the answer to this..

PS: If

someone posts the solution in the comments, I won’t consider any emails

that come in after the comment was posted. Sorry.

Hint: I am

receiving a lot of emails supporting one of the conclusions. Remember,

the temptation is to go with the flow in the story and accept one or

more of the conclusions. If you discover the flaw, you may question the

conclusion. Hope this is helpful.

 

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Aug 8 – 2:13 pm Update:

I have so many email responses but only one entry that identified

the flaw so far. Congrats to John Brothers at Atlanta, GA

Sep 7 – 6:37 pm

Update: I am still getting emails with solutions. Thanks for the

overwhelming response but I have already posted the solution here

 

Related Articles:

• MBA and the Fisherman solution
• Harvard MBA was wrong; defending the fisherman
• A brain teaser and why you need to be careful about stories
• Ways to distinguish yourself #201 – Tell the right story to the right people.

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