How a Tale of Two Donkeys Teaches Us About Balance and Teamwork in Our Careers

Success is a Journey not a Destination

A good story for all of us to follow in our careers.

Once upon a time, a washerman was bringing up two donkeys, let us say Donkey-A and Donkey-B.

Donkey-A felt it was very energetic and could do better than the other. It always tried to pull the washerman's attention by taking more load and walking fast in front of him. Innocent Donkey-B is normal, so it walked normally, irrespective of the washerman's presence. After a period of time, the washerman started pressurizing Donkey-B to be like Donkey-A.

But Donkey-B, unable to walk fast, received continuous punishment from the washerman. It was crying and told personally to Donkey-A:

"Dear friend, only we two are here, why compete with each other... we can carry an equal load at a normal speed."

That made Donkey-A even more energetic, and the next day, it told the washerman that it could carry more load and even run faster.

Obviously, the happier washerman looked at Donkey-B, his blood pressure rose, and he started kicking Donkey-B. The next day, with a smile, Donkey-A carried more load and started running fast. But it was overwhelming for Donkey-B, and it couldn't keep up. The washerman, frustrated, harassed Donkey-B terribly, and finally, it fell down hopelessly.

Then Donkey-A felt itself as a supreme and happily began carrying more load with great speed. However, now the load of Donkey-B was also being carried by Donkey-A, and it still had to run fast. After some time, it got tired and started feeling the pain due to fatigue. The washerman expected more from Donkey-A. It also tried its best but couldn't keep up with the owner's demands. The washerman got angry with Donkey-A also and started harassing it to take more load. Donkey-A cried for a long time and then tried its best. But it couldn't meet the owner's satisfaction. Finally, the day came when due to frustration, the washerman killed Donkey-A and went to search for some other donkeys.

It's an endless story... But the moral of the story in corporate life is:

"Think all project mates are the same and that everyone is capable... Always share the load equally... Don't ever act smart in front of your boss and never try to get undue credit... Don't feel happy when your project mate is under pressure."

And most importantly, Never Work Hard, Work Cleverly...

"Success is a journey not a destination"

Excellent story. Reminds me of what I read in Edward De Bono's book that the meaning of the word competition is "Seeking together." One of my bosses had a prodigious talent - he rose from Assistant Manager to CEO in just one year, completely outclassed the chairman in front of three collaborators, and went on to establish a big business of his own. In his own business, he achieved in three years with five people what people normally achieve in 10 years. Though he could have had a lion's share of the profits because of his talent, he shared profits with his partners and said that he will earn well in the long run which is what happened. This cannot be followed by everybody but these are the possibilities when you combine smartness with wisdom.

As for success being a journey and not being a destination, it depends upon the match between personal profile, business profile, and market profile. If the market profile matches the other two, it can be both a journey and a destination. Otherwise, one has to be satisfied and enjoy what one is doing - http://mypyp.wordpress.com/. In one of the posts, it is given how artists spend a lifetime of poverty for the love of their profession, how actors take rejection after rejection, how animal lovers stay in appalling conditions just to be in an occupation of their liking, etc. These are examples of success being a journey and not a destination. Where commercial success is possible, it is both. For blind money-centric people, it is a destination, not a journey.

Dear Syma,

Thank you for posting such a nice story. I agree with this story 100%. Actually, it's an ideal story for all HR people to follow. No individual should be overburdened with heavy work; instead, tasks should be decentralized among other individuals to achieve better output. Undoubtedly, through this approach, we can develop a more productive working environment. Thank you once again.

[Biswajit Pani]
E-mail ID: bjpani@gmail.com