Does this scenario sound familiar to you?
A CEO of a company stuck in neutral decides to take a few days off and hike in the wilderness. Meandering along a path, he unexpectedly stumbles upon a trap meant for a large animal and gets his leg caught in the trap.
After trying in vain for several minutes to pry himself free, he calls out for help. Soon thereafter, a hiker comes along, stopping to try to help the CEO. Unable to free the man, the hiker says, “My father has a large saw that I can bring back here and cut your leg below the knee. You will be free then.” While true, the CEO ponders, at what cost will he obtain his freedom? The hiker leaves to get the saw.
A little while later, another hiker stops and tries to pry the CEO loose. Again, failure. At which point, the hiker says to the CEO, “There’s a General Store up on Highway 8. I’ll bet they have an instructional manual for this type of trap. Stay cool, I’ll be back.” The CEO frowns and thinks to himself, “An instructional manual? I barely have time to read our quarterly statements. Why on earth would I take the time to read through a manual?”.
Finally, a third hiker comes along, and the CEO, at this point exasperated, pleads with him to help him. The hiker looks at the CEO, then walks around the trap. He stops and kneels at one edge of the trap, reaches over, and pulls a pin, opening up the trap and freeing the CEO.
The CEO is overcome with joy and yet puzzled as to why the third hiker didn’t try to pry him loose. The hiker looked at the CEO and smiled, “Sometimes, you just have to know where to look to find the solution to your problem.”
Where are you looking these days?