With summer holidays just starting, I was thinking to share with you something short, light and funny this time. Thanks to whoever created the story (I came across the fable on Facebook) let me share with you too. It’s funny while at the same time scary if you consider that happens for real in the corporate life:

“Every day, a small ant arrived at work early and started work immediately, she produced a lot and was happy. The boss, a lion, was surprised to see that the ant was working without supervision. He thought if the ant can produce so much without supervision, wouldn’t she produce more if she had a supervisor!

So the lion recruited a cockroach who had extensive experience as a supervisor and who was famous for writing excellent reports. The cockroach’s first decision was to set up a clocking in attendance system. He also needed a secretary to help him write and type his reports. He recruited a spider who managed the archives and monitored all phone calls.

The lion was delighted with the cockroach’s report and asked him to produce graphs to describe production rates and analyze trends so that he could use them for presentations at board meetings, so the cockroach had to buy a new computer, a laser printer and recruit a fly to manage the IT department. The ant, who had been once so productive and relaxed, hated these new plethora of paperwork’s and meetings which used up most of her time.

The lion came to the conclusion that it was right time to nominate a person in charge of the department where the ant worked. The position was given to the cicada whose first decision was to buy a carpet and an ergonomic chair for his office. He also needed a computer and a personal assistant, who he had brought from his previous job in another company to help him prepare work and budget control as well as strategic optimization plan.

Having reviewed the performance of the department, the lion found out that the production was much less than before. So, he recruited the owl, a prestigious and renowned consultant, to carry out an audit and suggest solutions. The owl spent 3 months in the department and came out with an enormous report, concluding that ” The Department is Overstaffed”.

Guess who the lion fired first? The ant, of course, as she showed “lack of motivation and had a negative attitude towards co-workers.”

Have you seen anything like that in the real life? If yes, recall the feelings you had. Next time such events are unfolding in your company – make sure you start defending your ants…

Have a great summer, enjoy holidays with your families and if you like to exercise a bit, here is the ExFitt 10-Minute Daily Stretching Routine.

Best,
Dan

PS: in case you like to read more and this time really funny and well written, here is a great holiday book to enjoy: Three ways to capsize a boat by Chris Stewart.