Wednesday, January 11, 2006

A nice little story for MBA graduates...

From: www.kalibrio.com/foundation1.php?cate=5


A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist
complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and
asked how long it took him to catch them.

"Not very long," answered the Mexican.

"But then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his
needs and those of his family.

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."

"And after that?" asked the Mexican.

"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 then
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 new enterprise."

"How long would that take?" asked the Mexican.

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years," replied the American.

"And after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my Friend, That's when it gets really interesting,"
answered the American, laughing. "When your business gets really big,
you can start selling stock s and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" said the Mexican.

"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 drinking and enjoying
your friends."

Know where you're going in life... you may already be there

10 comments:

Glenn said...

I like it

Jorge Gajardo Rojas said...

Is very interesting the philosophy of the tale.Is rewarding work so hard to make the some simple thing and a free life.?
Good question to rich people of Unites States and Europe.
But a minimus is necesary,Food,water,a clean house and...no war.
I invite to visit my personal blog posted from Chile.

Anonymous said...

Very nice story :)
Thank you.

Of course, in Europe, it's more difficult to leave on the cost without earning money. Must we go to mexico to have a better life ?

Tizel

Anonymous said...

and after 25 years, where would you be ?

Anonymous said...

Nice Blog :)



www.FriendsterForum.com

Beach Bum said...

This post is the very reason I'm leaving the US and going to Mexico.

Brody's Story said...

So True...just wish the rest of the world would realize what's important and what's not.

Trailady said...

That is a really great story! Thanks for sharing! :o)

Volshebnik said...

I'm not saying that they only way to be happy is to go to Mexico and fish on the coast! Every person has his/her own wishes and dreams, it's just that very often we mix up what we sould do (to earn money or because society says it's good) and what we really want to do in life. So the thing is to think about your goals first, and don't take means for final goals. It's like money. It's just a means to be able to do stuff, not an aim in itself!
Personally, I don't want to retire yet, I haven't really started working ;-)

Ludovic Bodin said...

I think it s not a question of being rich or poor. To me, it s a question of being conscious of what you have today and understand that what you have today is already enought to make you happy and seize the day.

Also, being rich should be a responsability, not a privilege or an objective in life. Being rich means having the responsability to share with others and help them creating values for a better world.