Once upon a time, there was a tribe that did many great things.
Many fine people became tribe members. However, many fine people left the tribe too. The tribe leader was worried: the people who left were not only crazy-awesome, but they were, at the beginning, really crazy-excited to be part of the tribe. Finally, he asked The Soup Witches to help him. The witches spoke to every tribe member & held seances with departed souls. Everyone said the same thing:
“You either love it or hate it here.” -but none of them could explain what that meant.
The witches boiled everything down into a big pot of soup & sat under a huge tree to drink it. After several bowls of the heady brew, one of them asked-
“What if people can experience the tribe BEFORE joining it? They would really be able to see if they can fit in or not, wouldn’t they?”
-and so the witches went back to the tribe. This time, they also asked-
“If there was one thing that you saw before you joined the tribe that would change your mind about joining, what would it be?”
The answers poured out of the tribe members like water gushing out of a huge pot full of holes. Even those who had left wanted their thoughts included.
When it was time, the witches invited the tribe leader to their soup party. It was a blast, as the witches were known for their secret recipe. At the party, they put up a shadow puppet show for the tribe leader. Through it he saw how the tribe members behaved when he wasn’t looking. He found out:
- how they learned from each other
- how they felt their leaders were leading them
- how tribe members treated those they were unhappy with
- how they encouraged the stuff they liked, and
- how his actions defined the tribe that people ‘either love or hate’
Most importantly, he learned what it meant for the people to be part of the tribe.
The tribe leader was relieved that he could also finally describe THE WAY of the tribe, especially to those who wanted to join them. He then knew what to do in order to get the right kind of people to join his tribe. The witches helped him find a new way to initiate new members AND make the existing tribe members feel special & encouraged to continue doing cool stuff. There were still those who left, but the numbers became smaller. Even when the tribe grew bigger, it maintained its close-knit nature & their spirit of encouraging great stuff to happen, with new tribe leaders to carry on.
And no, I can’t give you the recipe of the soup. I signed a non-disclosure agreement.
p.s. If you enjoy Dilbert you can follow @DailyDilbert on Twitter too.
I love this post, Faz, which is why I’ve tweeted it twice to my followers.
I like that it illuminates the importance of exploring the meaning of words. You’re right – phrases like “you either love it or hate it here” are so often bandied about, with no one looking to their meaning. Which is the problem, because what we’re doing wrong (and right) can be found there.
How cool that you’ve written this in witch story form. Really a pleasure to read, and so much more memorable than the usual (read not-so-creative) sort of post where the message is just listed down.
I think I have a feel for the effort that went into this piece. Just want to let you know I think it was well worth it. I’m looking forward to more like this.
Well done!
Susan
Susan,
you’re a legend. Thank you for your encouragement. I believe I have found my writing voice (or at least one of them) and it would’ve taken me much longer had I not started exploring the power of words through the 30day challenge. It’s waking my creative self up. This awareness is helping me to connect the dots that represent the lessons I’ve learned from what I read. And from your blog, I learned the importance of being clear about what we want to say.
It’s a work in progress. Heck – I’m a work in progress, and I’m grateful for that.
Happy!
faz
p.s. When I meet you in person I’m going to give you a huge hug.
Huge hugs upcoming indeed!
How cool it is to connect with you, Faz. I always lose sight of our geographic distance, because you feel so close.
Love how you do things. Learning from you!
Susan