Once Upon a Business – Episode 97
The Golden Touch
Lisa Bloom: There was once a king named Midas who did a good deed for a satyr, a spirit of nature. Dionysus, the God of wine, then granted him a wish. For his wish, Midas asked that whatever he touched would turn to gold.
Hi, I’m Lisa Bloom, the story coach, and you’re listening to Once Upon a Business. In each episode, we explore a story, a fairy tale, folktale, or traditional story, so that we can discover the amazing lessons relevant for business and for entrepreneurs.
Despite Dionysus efforts to prevent it, Midas pleaded that this was a fantastic wish. So it was bestowed. Excited about his newly earned powers, Midas started touching all kinds of things, turning each item into pure gold. But soon, Midas became hungry. As he picked up a piece of food, he found he couldn’t eat it. It had turned to gold in his hand. Hungry, Midas groaned. I’ll starve. Perhaps this was not such an excellent wish after all. Seeing his dismay, Midas beloved daughter threw her arms around him to comfort him. And she too turned to gold. The golden touch is no blessing, Midas cried.
I think it’s fascinating that we still talk about the Midas touch as being something good. It’s a way of saying that a person has the ability to take something ordinary and turn it into gold. I’ve heard this term used many times in business, too. When a person has multiple successes, we often hear them referred to as having the Midas touch. And yet the story actually focuses on something else entirely. It’s about the limitations of this touch.
Very quickly, Midas realized that his ability to turn everything to gold was actually more of a curse. He realized it when he’s hungry but cannot eat, and even more when his daughter threw her arms around him to comfort him, but she, too, turned to gold. So though we rarely refer to it, the story is actually about a wish becoming a curse. And it’s a cautionary tale about greed.
Midas was relentless about getting his wish, and despite Dionysus efforts to prevent it, the wish was bestowed. It’s interesting how single minded we can become in life and business with a goal to achieve something that often doesn’t actually fulfill the need we’re trying to meet. This reminds me of the importance of the strategy process that we use in business a lot, where we try to get super clear on the vision and goals for the business before we design the strategy to really understand what we’re solving for as we create our business plan. The instinct can often be to jump into ideation, to come up with creative and innovative ideas to achieve something.
The problem is that if we lose sight of the goal, when we achieve the bright shiny object we’ve been chasing, well, it doesn’t give us what we actually want. Midas presumably thought that he could get unending wealth by being able to turn everything into gold. Yet at some stage, he realized that it wasn’t what he truly needed. He needed sustenance. He needed and love things that wealth don’t always bring. It’s an important lesson. In business, we need to get clear on what we truly want so that we can ask for, demand or be intentional about attaining the right things that will fulfill our true desires. From the business.
Another interesting aspect of this story is the concept of greed. In the text of the story that I was working from, it said that the moral of the story, according to Aesop, is that greed will always lead to downfall. It reminds me of my father who would often say what goes around comes around. I would argue with him and ask, but why do bad people get good things? What about people who behave horribly yet get what they want and are really successful? My father would just nod and smile. Don’t you worry Lisa. You’ll see. Maybe over a long period of time, what goes around always comes around.
I didn’t really believe him back then, but with the passing of time and a lot of hindsight, I think it is true. This story is a wonderful reminder that how we show up in one place is how we show up everywhere. When we lose sight of who we are and what really matters, then it doesn’t matter how much gold we have, we become very poor. We need to remember what really matters in the world we have created in our business. Is it about the material gains alone or is it about the essence of the work we actually do and the impact we have?
I’ve been blessed to work with so many people who are doing amazing things in the world. They don’t seek out the gold. They aren’t asking for magical wishes that will grant them some kind of superficial win that they can boast about. Instead, they want to build relationships, be accountable and responsible for the work they do, and make real change for good in the world. Now that’s something I can get behind with great enthusiasm.
I’m Lisa Bloom and you’ve been listening to Once Upon a Business. You can find out more about me at story-coach.com. That’s story-coach.com. Once Upon a Business is part of the Mirasee FM Podcast Network, which also includes such shows as Course Lab and Just Between Coaches. To catch the great episodes that are coming up on Once Upon a Business, please like and follow us on Mirasee FM’s YouTube channel or your favorite podcast player. And if you enjoyed the show, please leave us a comment or a starred review. It’s the best way to help us get these ideas to more people. Thank you. We’ll see you next time.