Undoubtedly we live in an age of astounding technological connectivity. Among the many benefits we accrue from our high tech world is that it affords us the ability to have at our fingertips access to more information and knowledge than at any time in history. Yet it seems, despite all that technology affords us, in so many ways we seem more disconnected from truly knowing one another and, arguably, we seem to have made no great strides in gaining either wisdom or common sense.
Why is that? As the author, Anne Rice so aptly put it, “I know nothing, because I know too much, and understand not nearly enough and never will.”
In my management career which spans so many years, I have witnessed on countless occasions what I refer to as “the arrogance of knowledge overshadowing the power of wisdom.” The Good Lord only knows, how often I myself have been such an offender.
The following tale that, of course, I stumbled upon on the internet, I believe to be a wonderful illustration of the distinction between the haughtiness of information mastery and the value of good old common sense. I hope you enjoy it.
One day a sheep rancher in Calaveras County California was out working along a fence line that separated his farm from the state highway. Before he saw it, he heard it roaring toward him. Then, in what seemed like a blink of an eye, the 600 horsepower Lamborghini screeched to a stop just past him. Then it started to slowly back up.
The driver, a young man dressed in obviously expensive designer clothes and donning equally posh sunglasses, lowered and leaned out of the car’s sleek window and shouted to the shepherd, “Hey Mister, would you care to wager that if I can tell you exactly how many sheep you have here, you’ll give me one of your sheep to take with me?”
It seemed obvious to the rancher that the smart-aleck youth was very high on himself and wanted to show off his superior acumen to what he perceived to be a country hick. But rarely out in this area were there any out-of-the-ordinary events to pique one’s interest, so the rancher slowly looked up at the young city-slicker, then glanced over to his peaceful flock and calmly answered, “Sure, why not?”
The young man responded with a brash look and a smug smile. Then he stepped out of his car holding a state-of-the art iPhone, with which he proceeded to connect to a series of websites, first calling up a satellite navigation system to pinpoint his location, then keying in the location to generate an ultra-high resolution picture in real time of the pasture. Next, he emailed the photo to an image processing facility, and within just a few seconds the processed data was returned to him. This data he now fed into an online database and entered the parameters of the report. Within another matter of seconds, a miniature printer located in his sports car produced a full color report containing several pages on analysis and results. The young man studied the data for a few more seconds and then turned and faced the rancher.
“You have exactly one thousand five hundred and eighty-six sheep, including three rams, and seven hundred and twenty-two lambs.”
“By golly, that’s right, young fella,” the shepherd responded in a mildly impressed tone. “Well, I guess that means you get to take one of my sheep.”
The young man gingerly climbed the fence and was careful with every step he took in the field, obviously mindful of soiling his expensive designer shoes. After a few moments, he made his choice, picked it up and loaded the animal into the passenger seat of his car, at which point the rancher said, almost as an afterthought, “Hey, Sonny, if I can guess what line of business you’re in, will you give me back my sheep?”
Nodding confidently, the young man agreed.
“Let’s see, I reckon you’re a consultant.”
“Wow, that’s absolutely correct,” the young man responded, very taken aback, “but, what made you guess that?”
“No guessing required at all,” answered the rancher.
“You showed up here even though nobody called you. You took a fee for giving me an answer that I already know to a question I never asked, and you know nothing about my business.”
“Now, you young whippersnapper, give me back my dog!”
“The process may seem strange and yet it is very true. I did not so much gain the knowledge of things by the words, as words by the experience I had of things.” ? Plutarch
Have an AWE-full Weekend!
William J. “Bill” Bacqué