Not so long ago there was a king. And the country of this king had three big problems. Since he was a good king, he wanted to solve those problems. So he asked two of the best advisors in his country to come to his palace.
He told these advisors: ‘This country has three problems. I want to solve them one by one. So, I’m going to tell you what the problems are. And I hope you can help me find a solution.
The first problem is, that I’m trying to build a new city. This is a very important project for me. This city should show what a wonderful and good country we live in. It’s so important for me, that I visit it every day. But even since I visit it every day, no building in that city ever gets completely built. There is no progress.’
‘I know the solution’ said the first advisor ‘and you are going to like it.’ ‘I also know the solution’ said the second advisor ‘but you are not going to like it.’ ‘Tell me.’ said the king to the first advisor.
‘It’s very simple. We should hire more people to build in this city. With more people, it should be easy to finish building.’ ‘I like that plan’ said the king. So, they hired more people. But to everyone’s surprise, the buildings still were not finished.
The king went to the second advisor and asked ‘Tell me your solution.’ ‘I want to lock you in a room for 13 days and only once every two weeks I will let you out. Only then can you visit the city’ the second advisor said. ‘I don’t like this plan.’ the king said. But he tried it anyway. And to his surprise, buildings were completed and the city was really becoming a city
‘Now I will tell you the second problem’ the king said. ‘This country needs more food. But every time we try to get more food, our efforts fail.’
‘I know the solution’ said the first advisor ‘and you are going to like it.’ ‘I also know the solution’ said the second advisor ‘but you are not going to like it.’ ‘Tell me.’ said the king to the first advisor.
‘It’s very easy. I know a country where they produce a lot of food. Let’s hire some people from that country and give them full control over this project.’ ‘I like that plan’ said the king. So, they hired a lot of people from that country and gave them full control. But, even with these experts, no extra food grew in the land.
The king went to the second advisor and asked ‘Tell me your solution.’ ‘I know one of the workers that worked on the failing food projects. I want to give this person full control over this project.’ ‘I don’t like that plan’ the king said. But he tried it anyway. And to his surprise, all of a sudden more food became available for his people to eat.
‘Now I will tell you the third problem’ the king said. In this country, there are so many cars, that there are a lot of traffic jams. I want to reduce the number of people traveling by car.
‘I know the solution’ said the first advisor ‘and you are going to like it.’ ‘I also know the solution’ said the second advisor ‘but you are not going to like it.’ ‘Tell me.’ said the king to the first advisor.
‘Let’s get busses. And let’s give those buses Wifi, movies, and free drinks. This will convince people to go by bus. And if more people go by bus, the number of vehicles will decrease.’ ‘I like that plan’ said the king. So, they bought a lot of buses with Wifi, movies and free drinks. But the people stayed in their own car.
The king went to the second advisor and asked ‘Tell me your solution.’ ‘Let’s give away free bikes.’ ‘I don’t like that plan’ the king said. But he tried it anyway. And to his surprise, people started using bikes and the number of cars reduced.
Finally, the king asked his two advisors to visit him one more time and asked ‘How did you get your knowledge?’ The first advisor spoke: ‘I am so sorry, my king. I do not know why my solutions didn’t work. When I saw the problems in our country I started traveling to other countries. For 2 years I learned there from the best. And that is how I got my knowledge.’ The second advisor spoke ‘1 year I traveled in our country. Listening and talking to people, asking questions. All to get more information about the problems we have. Then I traveled to other countries for 1 year. Looking for people who had the exact same problem and wanting to know how they solved it.’
‘Can you teach me what the problems were?’ the king said. ‘I will’ said the advisor. First, he took the king to a high mountain that overlooked the new city ‘As you can see this city has a lot of new buildings, but none are finished. If you would count, it’s a new building for every day you visit this place. When you come, you always get a new idea. And since you are king, people immediately start on this new idea. But that meant the other buildings did not get completed. By reducing your visits, people continued on the buildings longer and they dit get build completely. Something more people even couldn’t achieve.’
Then he took the king to a small farm. ‘This is where the person lives, that is now in charge of the food project. As you can see, he has for his own family enough food and animals on his land. But he didn’t get the chance to try this in your project, because he didn’t have the right education. He might not have the education, but he has the experience to get food in our country. The experts might have known how to get extra food in their country, but that doesn’t mean the same food will grow in our country. Since their country is very different, it’s even very doubtful.’
Last he took the king to a road with a traffic jam. There the king saw bicycles passing cars. ‘The people don’t want to leave their car, because it gets them to work quicker. At least, that is what they believe. Since the bus only stops in certain places but still has the same traffic jams, the travel time gets longer. The time to walk to and from the bus plus the time it takes the bus to travel. The bikes, on the other hand, can pass a traffic jam. And that reduces the travel time. Exactly what the people want.’
Moral of the story: Listen to people that tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. And, even if people are not giving you what you want, never stop listening to them.