I’m afraid this is off theme a bit, unless I try and make a very tenuous link to story telling techniques described by Shawn Callahan over at Anecdote! Actually, I picked this up from The Times yesterday in relation to a compilation of anecdotes from celebrated figures of the 1950’s, being auctioned for charity today in London. This one appealed to my sense of humour:
Sir Arthur Bryant. 18 February 1899 – 22 January 1985
I had 12 bottles of whiskey in my cellar, and my wife told me to empty the contents of each and every bottle down the sink, or else…!
I withdrew the cork from the first bottle, and poured the contents down the sink with the exception of one glass, which I drank. I extracted the cork from the second bottle and I did likewise, with the exception of one glass, which I drank. I withdrew the cork from the third bottle and emptied the whiskey down the sink, with the exception of one glass, which I drank.
I pulled the cork from the fourth sink and poured the bottle down the glass, which I drank. I pulled the bottle from the cork of the next and drank one sink out of it, and threw the rest down the glass. I pulled the sink out of the next glass, and poured the cork down the bottle, and drank the glass. I corked the sink with the glass, bottled the drink and drank the pour.
When I had emptied everything, I steadied the house with one hand and counted the bottles, corks, glasses and sinks, which were 29. To make sure I counted them again, and when they came by I had 74, and as the house came by I counted them again and finally had all the houses, bottles corks, glasses and sinks counted, except one house and one bottle, which I drank.
Yes, I think I’ve been there!
There’s lots of good KM in this story! He received his project directive from Management, planned out a process by which to both accomplish the corporate agenda and enrich his own learning/experience, executed the plan and attempted an after-action review to assess his progress.
The problem seems to be that he didn’t make any of his knowledge explicit… How often do we hear that the knowledge that isn’t written down or passed on gets lost?! If his wife comes rushing in, demanding a status update on Bottle #9, this poor guy is in trouble.