A business consultant took a vacation to a small coastal village in a sunny country on doctor’s orders. Unable to sleep after an urgent phone call from a customer the first morning, he walked out to the pier to clear his head. A small boat with just one fisherman had docked, and inside the boat were several large yellow-fin tuna. The business consultant complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish.
“How long did it take you to catch them?” the consultant asked.
“Only a little while,” the fisherman replied.
“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” the consultant then asked.
“I have enough to support my family and give a few to friends,” the fisherman said, as he unloaded them into a basket.
“But… What do you do with the rest of your time?”
The fisherman looked up and smiled. “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Julia, and stroll into the village each evening, where I sip wine and play guitar with my friends. I have a full and busy life, señor.”
The business consultant laughed and stood tall. “Sir, I have a university degree and can help you. You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. In no time, you could buy several boats with the increased haul. Eventually, you would have a fleet of fishing boats.”
He continued, “Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village, of course, and move to a city, then to an even bigger city, and eventually to the biggest city of all, where you could run your expanded enterprise with proper management.”
The fisherman asked, “But, sir, how long will all this take?”
To which the consultant replied, “15-20 years, 25 tops.”
“But what then, sir?”
The consultant laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions.”
“Millions sir? Then what?”
“Then you would retire and move to a small coastal fishing village, where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, and stroll in to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your friends...”
Free adaptation of Heinrich Böll’s 1963 short story Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral — the original seed from which all internet versions of this parable sprouted.