Remember the goose that laid golden eggs?
Most of us are familiar with the ancient fable of the goose that laid a golden egg every day. At first the couple who owned the goose considered themselves very fortunate. But soon their greed began to grow and they weren’t satisfied with receiving just one golden egg a day. Imagining that the goose was full of golden eggs, they butchered it to get all the eggs immediately. But inside their goose was like any other: it held no golden eggs.
And the couple realized too late that they had destroyed their source of riches.
There are several lessons to be taken from the fable — most of them clear even to a child:
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The more we have, the more we want.
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Greed is costly, and can ultimately destroy our well-being.
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Patience is a virtue with its own rewards.
But there is a more subtle lesson that escapes even sophisticated adults.
The goose laid one golden egg a day because it produced one golden egg a day. The couple found no eggs in the butchered goose because tomorrow’s egg had not developed yet. A new egg could emerge only if the goose maintained its metabolic processes.
So it is throughout the universe. All that is continues to emerge in every moment — bringing new challenges, opportunities and resources which were not apparent only a moment ago.
Even if we can see all the options that exist at the moment (which is very unlikely), we cannot see all the options that will exist in the next moment. Sometimes the change from one moment to another is almost imperceptible. Sometimes it is dramatic, unpredictable and revolutionary.
Although we cannot foresee the future, decisions about the future have to be made. Sometimes it makes sense to delay a decision pending new information and circumstances. But frequently it doesn’t. And a decision delayed is often a decision made by default.
LifeBreath Leaders make decisive choices now — without knowing what the uncertain future holds — because they commit to monitoring the decision’s environment going forward. They have the humility to make midcourse changes if the changing environment calls for it.
LifeBreath Leaders appreciate the emergent nature of reality. They appreciate the fact that the future is uncertain. But they also realize that they have been called to help shape that future as it unfolds around them. They know that if they continue to pay attention, they can continue to breathe life into people and processes so that their organization continues to be a goose that lays golden eggs again and again.
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