You have to feed the beast!
As I was eating dinner with a client a few months ago, I asked him to think about how we (Failsafe) could be of better service to our clients. I encouraged him to take time to think about his answer and to be in touch with me at a later date. But immediately, he said “I don’t need to think about it! Bob, if you want to be of better service to your clients,
You have to feed the beast.”
Later, after thinking about it for a while, I got in touch with him again to probe his meaning, but he retracted the phrase and told me (more or less) that he merely meant that the results of any causal learning endeavor must be seen on the bottom-line -- and “as a business person, I would not say this is negative.” Please do not get me wrong. I appreciate this person, and what he is saying.
But why would he have initially used those words? Did something in his subconscious suddenly emerge, revealing a true but unwanted feeling? Do we all have “beasts” within our lives -- circumstances that always seem to threaten us that are easily placated but difficult to permanently resolve? Are we more willing to merely keep the beast satisfied than to do whatever it takes to remove the beast (including “killing” it if necessary)? Are we all prisoners, in effect, of these beasts -- who demand more and more, “or else?” What are the “beasts” of our “business lives?” Are we merely them by “feeding” them? Would we be better off without them? If so, what would be the meaning of “killing the beast?”
So many questions. What are your thoughts?
Please reply on this blog so that everyone can share.
