A couple of days ago one of my colleagues was discussing a deal we were contemplating. In the course of the discussion, he remarked, that we would be making a small margin in per Man-hour terms.
It being a Friday evening, and since we had some time on hand, I requested the colleague that over coffee I would like to tell him a small story. My colleague readily agreed and I narrated the following story.
Long, long ago there lived a very wealthy Maharaja from a long line of rulers. This fine dynasty had accumulated a vast amount of wealth. However towards the end of his reign the Maharaja was a worried man, as the crown prince was a wastrel. At his wits end the Maharaja asked his chief courtier for advice. The courtier, ever the loyal servant promised to show the prince the errors of his ways.
The Maharaja one day suggested to the Prince that he organize a contest and give the winner, whatever prize he wanted and be responsible for the event with his own resources. The Prince ever eager to be a center of attraction readily agreed. The contest started and finally, the winner was the Chief Courtier. The winner was asked to name his award. The Courtier asked the prince that a gold coin and a giant size chess board be brought. Once this was brought, the courtier asked the Prince that one gold coin be given on the first day and placed on the first square of the chess board. He then asked the Prince that the next day the number of Gold coins be doubled from the previous day’s number and placed on the next empty square so that in sixty four days all the squares were covered.
The prince laughed and made jokes about the courtier that he was not smart enough to ask for a bigger prize, and readily agreed. Thus on the first day one gold coin was placed on the chess board. The next day there were two coins placed on the chess board. The third day four coins were placed on the board. By the end of the eighth day when the first row was completed, there were 128 coins on the eighth square and a total of 255 coins had been placed.
This continued and after the second row was completed, there were 32, 678 coins placed on the sixteenth square with a total of 65,535 on the board. By this time the Prince began to realize his folly, however he allowed it to continue and on the seventeenth day when 65,000 plus coins had to be placed he expressed his fear of not being able to fulfill the award to the Maharaja. The Maharaja refused to intercede. By the twentieth day the Prince had run out of money and had to tell the Courtier that he could not fulfill his award and bowed to the courtier’s wisdom for teaching him the importance of money and how it could grow or be lost.
After completing the story, I requested my colleague to do the calculation by 8000 Man-hours effort. The sum which came up was enough to make him realize the potential and to look at the bigger picture.
Financial decisions should not be taken lightly and suffer summary dismissal. After all “From small acorns do big trees grow”.
It being a Friday evening, and since we had some time on hand, I requested the colleague that over coffee I would like to tell him a small story. My colleague readily agreed and I narrated the following story.
Long, long ago there lived a very wealthy Maharaja from a long line of rulers. This fine dynasty had accumulated a vast amount of wealth. However towards the end of his reign the Maharaja was a worried man, as the crown prince was a wastrel. At his wits end the Maharaja asked his chief courtier for advice. The courtier, ever the loyal servant promised to show the prince the errors of his ways.
The Maharaja one day suggested to the Prince that he organize a contest and give the winner, whatever prize he wanted and be responsible for the event with his own resources. The Prince ever eager to be a center of attraction readily agreed. The contest started and finally, the winner was the Chief Courtier. The winner was asked to name his award. The Courtier asked the prince that a gold coin and a giant size chess board be brought. Once this was brought, the courtier asked the Prince that one gold coin be given on the first day and placed on the first square of the chess board. He then asked the Prince that the next day the number of Gold coins be doubled from the previous day’s number and placed on the next empty square so that in sixty four days all the squares were covered.
The prince laughed and made jokes about the courtier that he was not smart enough to ask for a bigger prize, and readily agreed. Thus on the first day one gold coin was placed on the chess board. The next day there were two coins placed on the chess board. The third day four coins were placed on the board. By the end of the eighth day when the first row was completed, there were 128 coins on the eighth square and a total of 255 coins had been placed.
This continued and after the second row was completed, there were 32, 678 coins placed on the sixteenth square with a total of 65,535 on the board. By this time the Prince began to realize his folly, however he allowed it to continue and on the seventeenth day when 65,000 plus coins had to be placed he expressed his fear of not being able to fulfill the award to the Maharaja. The Maharaja refused to intercede. By the twentieth day the Prince had run out of money and had to tell the Courtier that he could not fulfill his award and bowed to the courtier’s wisdom for teaching him the importance of money and how it could grow or be lost.
After completing the story, I requested my colleague to do the calculation by 8000 Man-hours effort. The sum which came up was enough to make him realize the potential and to look at the bigger picture.
Financial decisions should not be taken lightly and suffer summary dismissal. After all “From small acorns do big trees grow”.
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