It's interesting enough to learn that a 'case' story often told in management sessions is derived from a joke. Or probably seen as the other way around that the case is considered as (just) a joke ?. The lessons learned from the story, I would suppose, are about getting to the point, understanding what is actually the problem to come up with the real solution. A classical case about doing the right things versus doing things right.
It is rated as Top Joke in Canada by the University of Hertfordshire, UK in a research project http://www.laughlab.co.uk/ to find the best jokes in the world. Here is the story.
When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat the problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 billion to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to 300°C.
The Russians used a pencil.
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2 comments:
Another great story of yours! This story actually reminds me when i worked in Baghdad as a new engineer with a high minds of what should go right and what should go wrong and do all kinds of things to prevent the good become the bad. One of the jokes told by a fellow worker is secretly the Iraqis can not take critics, the best way to tell them is by telling a jokes - like what Abunawas did in 1001 nights stories. The point in telling jokes is, the other part that receiving the jokes needs to understand the underlying message of that jokes and do everything to prevent the jokes itself could never be materialized in the real world. Unfortunetly, half of the world intelligence is away below par, in that case not everybody can get the jokes message easily and openly. This is the same as the story of a King who ask all of his advisors to drink from a "secret poison" for them to come up with a better idea of how to rule the kingdom. The later discovery was, all his advisors gives all "crazy advices". The King and all of the kingdom does not understand all the regulation and all the policy which came from the advisors. Abunawas came and save the kingdom by asking everybody to drink the secret poison and suddenly everybody become crazy like the rest of the advisors, after taken the secret poison. Suprisingly they understand all the regulation and the policy came from the advisors. The Kingdom and the King become happily everafter because actually the regulation and the policy is very good. Moral of the story: "We need to be in the same state of mind to understand what other people would like to say either through jokes, chit-chat. light conversation, or even a tiny thing of effort to make the message delivered". Grande Mucho Gracias from the Spanish Lady. I enjoy reading your intellectual blogs but emailing you will be something else that i may do in the future. For the time being i do enjoy being anonymous!
Denada, Spanish Lady. Working in Baghdad must be quite tough after the war (long before the war would be a different story I guess).
Indeed, being in the same state of mind is key in getting the message across.
Thanks for comment, and it's OK with me being anonymous.
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