Leadership story: How to train a donkey the right way

There was once a very frugal man who prided himself on saving money in every possible way. He examined every expense carefully, always looking for ways to cut costs. One day, as he walked past his stable, he noticed that his hired hand was feeding the donkey what he considered to be a rather generous portion of food. The man frowned, convinced that too much was being wasted. Calling his hired hand over, he explained his concerns. He reasoned that feeding the donkey too much would make the animal fat and sluggish, reducing its productivity and ultimately costing them more money. He believed that the donkey could be trained to survive on much less food and declared that he would take over feeding the animal himself. The frugal man then devised a plan. Each day, he reduced the donkey’s food by a small amount just enough so that the animal would not notice too much of a difference. The first few days passed, and the donkey continued to work as usual. Encouraged by this, the man kept decreasing the rations. The donkey began to slow down slightly, but the man took this as proof that the animal had simply been too accustomed to unnecessary luxury and was now learning to be more efficient.

As the weeks turned into months, the donkey grew thinner. Its ribs became visible, its energy waned, and it struggled with the work it had once done easily. The hired hand watched with growing concern and tried to reason with his employer. But the frugal man dismissed his worries, saying that the donkey was merely adjusting. In fact, he believed he was on the verge of an incredible breakthrough training the donkey to survive on almost no food at all. Then, one morning, the man walked into the stable to find the donkey lying motionless. It had died during the night. Shocked, he turned to his hired hand and lamented, “It’s such a shame. If that donkey hadn’t suddenly died, I think I could have trained him to eat nothing at all!” The hired hand sighed, realizing that no amount of reasoning would make the frugal man see his mistake.