Monday, January 17, 2011

A Fisherman's Story - Brilliant

There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village.
As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite few big fish.
The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?”
The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.”
“Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The businessman was astonished.
“This is enough to feed my whole family,” the fisherman said.
The businessman then asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day?”
The fisherman replied, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”

The businessman offered a suggestion to the fisherman.
“I am a PhD in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible. When you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fish. Soon you will be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food and distribution network. By then, you will have moved out of this village and to Sao Paulo, where you can set up HQ to manage your other branches.”

The fisherman continues, “And after that?”
The businessman laughs heartily, “After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, and you will be rich.”
The fisherman asks, “And after that?”
The businessman says, “After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!”
The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?


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Before I read this story, I chose Businessman. Now I still want to be a businessman; but one that lives like a fisherman. Is that possible? Love your wife, love your parents, love your kids. Most importantly, Love your Job. Everything else will fall in place, I choose to believe. Successful entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson claims [in his autobiography] that doing business is what makes him happy; the challenges he faces on a daily basis drives him like a passion. 
I don't know if I have that as a passion right now. But I do know one thing: I want to make a difference. If that's through the means of business, I'll do it and I'll do it fervently.

~nang

2 comments:

  1. I was told this story almost a year ago by one of our professors of Leadership. According to the version I was told, when asked the final question, the businessman answered to the fisherman:
    "huummm you are right, but just think about that journey". I have come to believe that life is not about destination, its about the journey. And success is not how far you reached, but how far you have come.

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  2. Is the story taken from Paolo Coelho's blog? Would have been good to acknowledge source. Now I know that my professor probably added a comment of his own to the original story!

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