Story about communication: Simple instructions gone wrong

John was the first son of a wealthy lord. From an early age, he followed his father everywhere and learned how to manage estates, run a business, and deal with people. Above all John’s father respected and valued people who worked for him and told John never to forget who was loyal and hardworking, and to always reward them. Over the years under his father’s mentorship, John grew into a successful businessman, surpassing even his father’s achievements. As John’s father was about to retire he asked John, “If the roles would be reversed and you would mentor me, is there anything you would do differently?” By asking him this question, the father wanted to make sure that John remembered all of the lessons he handed down to him and to see if John learned anything new on his own. John smiled at his father and said, “You missed one important lesson, Father. Always give simple instructions and provide the right tools to get the job done. Anything less does not guarantee that the job will get done.” This one lesson proved to be a big deal in the young man’s future success. As his business and estates grew, he needed to find more and more reliable men and women to manage them. But it turned out that John had a weakness.

That weakness was a butler who was loyal but also dumb and kept making mistakes but was with him since his childhood. Like his father, John didn’t have the heart to fire the butler as he would have had trouble finding a new job, but on the other hand, John didn’t want to just hand him money for free. He felt that the butler or anyone else no matter their condition needs to earn their pay in one way or another. So John kept him employed but only gave the butler simple tasks and provided simple instructions. To John’s distress, the butler even couldn’t get all of those tasks done as it was expected of him. One day John called the butler and told him, “Go to the store and get one cup of flour and one cup of sugar. Be quick because we need the flour to bake bread and we need the sugar to make some sweets. Whatever you do please be careful not to mix them together or we won’t be able to prepare the bread and sweets. Did you understand?” The butler nodded and kept repeating so he wouldn’t forget, “A cup of flour and a cup of sugar and they can’t get mixed, a cup of ….” John saw that the butler understood his task and went on to tend to his other tasks.

The butler focused on his task picked up a tray and went to the store. On his way to the store he kept repeating “a cup of sugar, a cup of flour, can’t let them mix,…”. Finally, the butler arrived at the store and said to the clerk, “One cup of flour please,” and handed out his tray. The clerk picked up a cup, measured the right amount of flour, and then put it on the tray. “Anything else?” asked the clerk, and the butler said, “Yes, please. I need one cup of sugar also.” The clerk like before got a cup and measured the exact amount of sugar. As he was about to pour sugar on the tray next to the flour the butler quickly stopped him, “No stop, they must not mix!” Confused the clerk asked, “Fine, then where should I put it?” The butler thought for a while then turned the tray upside down and said, “Put it here, there is nothing on this side.” The clerk said nothing and did as he was told.

On his way home the butler felt proud that he was able to solve his predicament and kept repeating, “One cup of flour, one cup of sugar, but they did not mix…” When the butler arrived at the estate he felt so proud of how he resolved the problem of not mixing the flour and sugar that he searched for John to tell him. When John saw the butler he immediately asked him, “I see you brought sugar, but where is the flour?” With a big smile, the butler turned the tray and said, “It’s on this side. You see I remember you told me not to mix them together.” John at this point remembered what he once told his father before he took over the family business, “Always give simple instructions and provide the right tools to get the job done. Anything less does not guarantee that the job will get done.”