Dissecting the goose with the golden egg

Dissecting the goose with the golden egg

By Rajesh Setty on Tue 11 Jul 2006, 11:46 AM – 8 Comments

Yes, this is about dissecting the goose with the golden egg (pun intended)

Here are a couple of my earlier rants about stories with flawed logic.

The goose and the golden egg is a popular story that will lead to conclusions like:

a. Greed is not good

b. Focusing only on short-term can lead to problems in the long-term

Here is the story for those who missed it

There was once a countryman who possessed a goose that laid golden eggs. Every morning he would find one glittering golden egg. The countryman tooke the egg to the market, sell it and bring back the money. Soon he was rich. Very rich. But it was not long before he grew impatient with the goose because she gave him only ONE golden egg everyday. At this rate, he thought he can’t get rich fast enough. He was basically becoming more greedy.

Then one day he got a (brilliant) idea. He thought if he cut open the goose, he can get all the golden eggs at one shot and he could become VERY rich. So, he went ahead and cut open the goose. He not only did not find a single golden egg inside but he also lost the goose that would have given him one golden egg everyday for a long time.
OK that was the story and motivational speakers use this story to draw conclusions stated above.

Before you scroll down and read the rest of this article, I wanted you to stop and think if you see any issues with what has been said. ANY issues?

Here is ONE perspective to this whole thing. I think this story and the way conclusions are drawn are so flawed that I don’t even know where to start. So here it goes:

1. Think about the way the story ends and the conclusions drawn. It almost makes you feel that the Countryman did a mistake by cutting open the goose that laid the golden egg. If that was a mistake, it gives you an impression that NOT cutting open the goose was the RIGHT thing to do – meaning the Countryman should have continued to expect one golden egg everyday as long as the goose was alive. Question: Is that greed or what?

2. The reason for which the Countryman killed the goose was wrong. Being an entrepreneur I have to think in terms of business. I would say it was the RIGHT thing to do. When you build a business, sometimes you have a good thing going and it appears like a goose with a golden egg. You become complacent and assume that there is an implicit guarantee (like the Countryman expecting ONE golden egg everyday) but in reality there is none. Some new startup somewhere can obliterate the business model in record time. So in essence, you have to be willing to kill your darlings before others do. In that sense, the Countryman actually did the RIGHT thing. Now he has no option but to go and earn real money.

3. The reason for drawing the second conclusion is also flawed. The second conclusion is that by focusing solely on short-term, we may have problems in the long-term. I like the conclusion but the basis for that conclusion should not be this story. It seems like if he had NOT killed the goose everything would have been fine. Think about it – if he didn’t kill the goose, he is making a couple of assumptions

a. the goose will continue to lay golden eggs

b. the goose won’t die of other causes

If he had not killed the goose, he would have taken care of his long-term needs? How? I think he would have become a vegetable by becoming more complacent day by day. In essence, he really woke up by killing the goose.

4. Last but not the least – if this story really happened, we know that the Countryman was VERY lucky. What are the chances that this kind of thing repeating? Same as winning big money in gambling I suppose. Are we saying that if you get lucky once (get ONE golden egg) we now have the RIGHT to CONTINUE to get lucky (expect golden eggs everyday)???

Parting thought:

I am sure you have your own perspectives on this. When I discussed this with select groups, there was a huge resistance from some people who I think were REALLY in love with the story and were DEFENDING it to the core. I have nothing against this or any other story (remember, my first four books were novels.) My only point is that we have to be very critical of the way the conclusions are drawn from a story or a discussion or an article or anything. If you miss that in a story what is the guarantee that you won’t miss that in your NEXT big deal?

Update: Here is one more perspective on the story. I try to rip apart the logic in the story and PicoBusiness rips apart the logic in my logic. We can continue the argument but the idea is not to win or prove anything. Take a simple story and see how many ways you can slice it. Enjoy :)

 

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8 Comments so far, Add Yours

Anonymous  on July 12th, 2006

Hi Rajesh,

It is a totally new dimension i which you have thought. I do say that I may not agree with all the points that you have listed above, (I have my own reservations) but the direction of thought that you have shown will definitely help me.

Thanks for this new perspective.

Regards,

Prashant

Anonymous  on July 12th, 2006

Hello Rajesh,

I am not a great fan of disecting a simple story just for the sake of it. Not that I am criticising what has been writting by you. But instead can there be not a different perspective to the whole story.

Why did the countryman have to open the goose to make money. He already has money by selling the earlier eggs. Could he have not earned more money by doing justice to the money that he is already having. Then what ever the argument of the entreprenaur that you are stating, isn’t it fundamentally flawed?

The point of the story is not only to have a long term view but also to best utilise that you have instead of killing it. Do let me know what you think of it?

By the way, your thoughts have led me to a different perspective into the story…thought as the previous blogger mentioned, I don’t agree to all of it.

Anonymous  on July 12th, 2006

Thanks to both of your comments.

Again, to be clear. I love stories. I write them. My point is that there are some stories that are good as “bedtime stories” for kids and there are some that can be applied to business contexts. The wisdom is to know the difference.

I have used this story to make a point and that is – how to get to the bottom of the basis of a conclusion rather than plainly accepting the story as a grounding for that conclusion.

Have fun!

Cheers,

Raj

PS: Thank you for letting me know that you don’t agree with all of it :)

Anonymous  on February 16th, 2007

Hi Raj,

I totally agree with you. Rightly said, Wisdom is to know the difference. Different people have different perspectives and the idea is to learn something out of every story. Doesn’t matter if your lesson is different. As long as you learn some good and progressive. Its all that matters !!

Anonymous  on July 11th, 2007

Rajesh .. I guess the goose is a symbol of a process (a machinery/ plant/ people (in case of IT) … by cutting the goose, the owner cuts the process … no process, no results, no gains … so I still hold that the story and its moral are relevant … that process is important and one needs to show patience to fetch results …

So I while agree with you that before conclusions, one should to try to explore from various angles … I disagree that the these popular stories are irrelevant …

Regards,

Jai

ananda  on April 4th, 2009

hi Rajesh my name is Ananda i have a qustion about the story the goose with the golden eggs i agree with you connection a business with that the story but my qustion it’s not about a business but i wondering to know the full story about the goose with the golden eggs do you know more story about that??because i need that for my homework i cant find full story form the internet so i really need your help please if you can help me to tell more story about the goose with the golden eggs??reply to my email..thank you for your attention.

ananda  on April 4th, 2009

hi Rajesh my name is Ananda i have a question about the story the goose with the golden eggs i agree with you, connection a business with that the story?? but my question it’s not about a business but i wondering to know the full story about the goose with the golden eggs do you know more story about that??because i need that for my homework i cant find full story form the internet so i really need your help, please if you can help me to tell more story about the goose with the golden eggs??reply to my email..

regards.

Ananda

ananda  on April 4th, 2009

im sorry comment you again because i forget write my email :) my email is sudirotira@yahoo.com i hope you can help me…

regards.

Ananda

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