Throwback Thursday:
This was originally published in Bob Pike’s Creative Training Techniques Newsletter in June 1996.
The story is told of a Chinese village in the time of the warlords.
One old man had a farm, a horse, and a fine young son. The villagers thought him blessed with good luck because of the horse and the son.
One day the farmer’s horse ran away.
The villagers exclaimed, “What bad luck!”
The farmer replied, “Good luck, bad luck, who knows?”
The warlords came through the village and conscripted all the horses.
Several days later the farmer’s horse returned with three other horses.
The villagers exclaimed, “What good luck!”
The farmer once again replied, “Good luck, bad luck, who knows?”
Shortly after the horses returned, the farmer’s son fell and broke his leg.
The villagers exclaimed, “What bad luck!”
Again the farmer replied, “Good luck, bad luck, who knows?”
A month later the warlords came through again, this time conscripting all able-bodied young men.
The farmer’s son was excused because of his leg.
Two weeks later word came that all the sons had died in battle.
The villagers exclaimed, “Good luck for you, bad luck for us!”
One last time the farmer replied, “Good luck, bad luck, who knows?”
The point the farmer was making is that there are circumstances in business and life that we can control, and there are those we cannot.
If we are constantly labeling everything that happens as luck, we have no control over the future.
Stuff happens.
Either we can control it and do something about it or we can’t.
We need to focus on the things we can control, shape, and manage, rather than looking constantly at the unmanageables.
Every time something happens to you and I, either personally or professionally, we have a choice as to how we respond.
Let’s not waste time with labels.
Instead let’s look at the situation and determine what can be done to make the best of it.
Some of the worst experiences I’ve encountered in life, worst at the moment anyway, ended up having the greatest value because of what I learned and how I was able to apply that learning to situations far down the road.
Let’s take time each day to look at both the good and bad that come our way and ask:
“What can I learn from this?”
Duane’s Take
This may be one of Bob Pike’s most timeless lessons.
What strikes me about this story is how desperately we want to label events as good or bad the moment they happen.
Good? Bad? Who knows?
I’ve been around training long enough to see plenty of things that looked like disasters at the time turn out to be blessings in disguise. I’ve also seen things that looked like huge wins create problems nobody anticipated.
The truth is that we’re usually terrible at predicting the long-term impact of short-term events.
That’s especially true in learning and development.
Bob’s story reminds me that not every situation needs an immediate label.
Sometimes the best response is curiosity.
Instead of asking whether something is good or bad, ask what it can teach you.
Instead of focusing on what happened, focus on what you’re going to do next.
That’s where our influence lives anyway.
Not in what happened yesterday.
Not in what might happen tomorrow.
But in what we choose to do right now.
And as Bob used to say,
Until next time, add value and make a difference.