It’s really very basic – a parable

A Parable

A long time ago, when wanting meant having, the world of business knew prosperity. Everyone was busy-buying, selling, trading. The work never stopped and many people reaped great rewards.

Young and old. Women and men. Success swept through their workplaces. They developed new habits and expectations. This was an enchanted world and everyone believed the prosperity would last forever.

Then the unthinkable happened.

As if a clock had struck midnight, the decade of excesses ended. Reality arrived and the prosperity vanished. The people looked around in shock and amazement.

They saw what was left. They longed for what was gone. And each of them–slowly, one by one–began to understand that their success had caused them to lose sight of the most fundamental of human principles.

The people began the challenging process of forming new beliefs. these lead to new values (which they discovered, were not new at all but as old as humankind itself). And these values led to new behaviors. Throughout the world, searching conversations started to take place.

“if you’re my customer,” someone said, “I should first ask you what you want and then work as hard as I can to meet your needs.”

Straight and clear, honest-to-goodness communication. The kind that leads to the only thing that matters in business–performance.

They learned this kind of communication comes through listening to customers and colleagues. It comes by first exploring how a new idea might work before listing all the reasons it can’t. And it comes through realizing that no one person has all the answers–ever.

The world of business began to thrive again. Only this time it wasn’t prosperous conditions that made it happen–it was a more powerful force. Communication.

There was something very real about it. Sound. Substantial. And human. The products they made were better products. The decisions they made were better decisions. And the money they made was good money–real profits that were worth something and that had a solid, long-term foundation beneath them.

And so they continued to communicate. Because it worked.