Skip to content
Tech Vs Humans
  • Mission
  • Blog
  • About Us
  • The Music List
  • The Reading List
  • Search Icon

Tech Vs Humans

A Digital Transformation Playspace

Implementation Parable – Two Monks and a Woman

Implementation Parable – Two Monks and a Woman

December 13, 2022

A senior monk and a junior monk were traveling together. At one point, they came to a river with a strong current. As the monks were preparing to cross the river, they saw a young woman who was also attempting to cross.

The younger monk noticed the woman, said nothing and walked by. The older monk quickly picked her up and put her on his back, transported her across the water, and put her down on the other side. She didn’t thank the monk, she just shoved him out of the way and departed. 

The younger monk couldn’t believe what had just happened. After rejoining his companion, he was speechless, and an hour passed without a word between them.

Two more hours passed, then three, and finally, the younger monk couldn’t contain himself any longer and blurted out, “That woman back there was incredibly selfish and rude, but you picked her up on your back and carried her! Then she didn’t even thank you!” 

The older monk looked at him and replied, “Brother, I set her down on the other side of the river hours ago. So why are you still carrying her?”

What’s the Lesson?

There are so many opportunities in implementation to carry baggage. Deep-rooted change ruffles feathers, which means you will sometimes need to carry many people, and their problems to the end goal. And a percentage of those people will not thank you and will not appreciate your efforts. That has got to be ok with you – you can’t carry those individuals after Launch.

So, what are you carrying? And how long have you been carrying it? Sometimes it’s easier to deal with an unfortunate situation in the moment and then move on than it is to not deal with it (for various reasons) and then carry the consequence of that choice. In other words, the weight of a path not taken can sometimes be more damaging than the one taken.

References and Resources

Alpha Home’s Perspective

“A Heavy Load” Story from Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth

Farmer Sean on Medium

Supporting Music

Everybody’s Stalking by Badly Drawn Boy

Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger

Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related


Implementation Parables

Post navigation

PREVIOUS
Changing the Narrative by First Seeing the Narrative
NEXT
Will This be on the Test?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Categories

  • Book Reviews
  • Career Growth
  • Change Management
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Digital Transformation
  • Guiding Principles
  • Humor
  • Implementation Best Practices
  • Implementation Parables
  • Implementation Vocabulary
  • Leadership
  • Personal Growth
  • User Adoption
  • User Personas
  • Work Management
  • Work/Life Balance

Previous Posts

  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • September 2021
  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
© 2023   All Rights Reserved.