Okay, Now It’s Used!
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And now for a modern day parable.
Tom runs a small construction company, which of course used pickup trucks for the transportation and delivery of materials. Business had been pretty good lately, so one day he bought three new trucks and had them delivered to the company’s compound the next morning. Tom had the drivers park in a very visible place.
All day long they sat, parked right smack in the middle of the construction yard; in fact, vehicles coming in and out actually had to go around them. As the day progressed, sooner or later nearly everyone had spent a few minutes admiring the shiny new trucks, opening the doors, even looking under the hood. Finally, towards the end of the day, Tom called for an all-employees meeting to be held out by the trucks.
At the appointed time, he stepped out of his office, walked straight to the first truck, picked up a hammer, and proceeded to whack the hood of the truck about ten times in rapid succession, badly damaging it. He proceeded to the next truck; then the next. Needless to say, everyone was stunned into silence.
Tom turned to them and smiled, and said, “There! Now they’re used trucks. Drive ‘em!” Then he calmly walked back to his office.
True story. Honest.
Parables are stories that are told to illustrate an idea. Now, rather than me drawing the lesson here and wrapping it all up for you, I’m going to let you have a shot at it! Go ahead, put on your thinking caps, and tell me (go ahead, I double-dog dare you!) what idea does this parable teach you?
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16 responses so far
Middle Zone Musings is a comfortable place to stop, have a cup of coffee, swap a few stories and share practical ideas for the real world. I don't ask for much, just a bit of your brain every now and then. Have a seat, take a load off, and relax...
Eh….
tools are there to be used, not admired?
Great story though!
Hi Karin!
When I first heard this story, (it was passed on to me by Tom’s son), my immediate response was, “well, yeah, the point is… uh, er…” and then I realized there’s actually many levels here.
What’s interesting about parables is that nearly everyone will have a slightly (or even wildly) different take away. It’s not really: “What does this mean?”, but “What does this mean to you, today?”
Bob,
I know that there’s no “right answer”.
To me the parable, a great story, says that we are overly caught up in the way things appear. We need to get past the shine and the glitz to see things with better perspective — this is a truck to get us and stuff from A to B, not just a new and shiny status symbol (that status symbol part is a post all by itself!). Sometimes it takes a disruptive shock to the system (the interaction between our perceptions and the thing being perceived) for us to truly see.
Bob, great post, and thanks for the participatory exercise!
The moral of the story is: if you work for Tom, don’t drive your own truck to work.
Chip:
Bwa-ha-ha-ha! You just made me blow milk from my nose on that one!
Tariq, I’m glad you mentioned the term “status symbol”, and the idea of a disruptive shock is very perceptive.
Thanks for a great, insightful comment. You’re right - it’s about perspective.
Ok, I might have missed the point because all I got out of it was that the ‘leader’ of the company is quite poor in communicating with his staff.
Was it ever mentioned how these trucks were to be used? Were they for a special purpose? If someone parked them in a specific place, might there be a specific intent? Would it disrupt this intent if someone moved them out of the way? Are they ready to be used? Is the graphics company on their way to make them pretty?
And then there is the complete lack of ‘taking the initiative’ on the part of the employees… which is also a direct result of the leadership….
Perhaps a little sign on the dash that said “Use Me!” would have gotten the job done more effectively without the hammer and the unnecessary dramatics.
This tells me that Tom has his employees living in fear of him, he sucks at communication, and he likely flies off the handle on a regular basis. I don’t think I’d want to work for Tom…
I believe it illustrates the old adage “To a man with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail!”
Tully, that’s certainly an insight that bears thinking about. If true, I would certainly agree with your conclusion. I’ve been following Bob Sutton’s thread on jerks in the workplace for about a year now and if true, Tom would qualify for sure.
Good thinking! Always more than one side to things, it seems.
Mike, thanks for dropping by! I thought of that one too when I first heard it. Not sure how it would apply here, but you never know…
Think about it. A man owns a construction company. He’s undoubtedly swung a hammer for a living. Now think about Tully’s comment. How does the boss deals with people problems? He hammers them! Now he needs to demonstrate his frustration with their inability to figure out what his unspoken offer/command is? Pick up his hammer and start swinging!!!
Rats! Inappropriate use of a question mark!! 30 lashes with a wet noodle!
Mike, you and Tully may have a point. Tom was indeed a crusty character.
But on the other hand, I personally “saw” it differently. What I hear him saying is, “Don’t treat these trucks differently from the old trucks. And don’t be worried about dents, scratches or scrapes on these brand new work trucks - after all, they’re work trucks.”
What I find fascinating is the variety of meanings different people can take away from the same story. That’s what makes parablesso powerful.
Oh, and Mike, next time, it’s a faceoff: 30 paces with wet noodles…
Ah, but bring in the old, ‘Actions speak louder than words’ and we’ve got a guy swinging a hammer when he was trying to say “Don’t treat these trucks differently from the old trucks - just use ‘em”…
Understanding = Message + Delivery
Point taken, Tully. I agree with you that I’d NOT like to work for Tom.