Once Upon a Business – Episode 92
The Proud Rose
Lisa Bloom: Once upon a time, in a desert far away, there was a rose who was so proud of her beautiful looks. Her only complaint was that she was growing next to an ugly cactus.
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.
Every day, the beautiful rose would insult and mock the cactus about his looks. All while, the cactus remained quiet. All the other plants nearby tried to make the rose see sense, but she was too small, swayed by her own looks. One scorching summer, the desert became dry and there was no water left for the plants. The rose quickly began to wilt. Her beautiful petals dried up, losing their lush color. Looking to the cactus, she saw a sparrow dip his beak into the cactus to drink some water. Though ashamed, the rose asked the cactus if she could have some water. The kind cactus readily agreed, helping them both through the tough summer as friends.
There are many stories that speak to this theme. That we should never judge a person by their looks, never judge a book by its cover. But I think there’s more to this story than that. I often wonder why beauty personified tends to be proud and mean. Haven’t you ever met a beautiful person that’s kind and generous? When we think of the popular girls in high school, they’re always beautiful and mean. Or when we hear about the stunning models and actresses, the epitome of beauty and often reported to be nasty and mean and treat the people around them badly.
Where does this come from? Perhaps it’s when people are blessed with extraordinary beauty, a strange thing happens. On the one hand, they’re elevated, exalted, even, as if their physical beauty is all that matters. And my goodness, we have an industry worth billions of dollars based on the glorification of beauty. There seems to be nothing more important in Western society than beauty. But on the other hand, there’s almost a sense of debt towards people who are beautiful. Like they owe the world something, they owe other people something.
And this seems really unfair. It’s not like they can share their beauty. And yet I think that beautiful people are often required to give more of their time and effort to others. Or perhaps this is just the trappings of fame, or the simple fact that if you are very beautiful, things seem to come more easily to you.
Research shows that tall and handsome people have disproportionate levels of success. It’s a strange fact that if you are tall and beautiful, you are more likely to be hired and promoted and so you have a better chance of advancing in your career. This means just because of what you look like, you have a better opportunity to amass wealth and be successful. No wonder there are expectations of beautiful people. They should acknowledge their good fortune and share it around. No?
The character in this story that we haven’t considered is the cactus. He’s wonderful, you see. He may be ugly and prickly, but he’s kind, versatile and strong. He’s also very patient with the nonsense of the rose, and he’s generous. It’s interesting that beauty, meanness of spirit and nastiness is often portrayed as female, while the silent, strong, kind and resilient character is usually male. It doesn’t surprise me so much, it’s often this way, especially in stories so old that I couldn’t even trace its source.
The lesson in business is clear. We shouldn’t judge the service or program by its beauty. I’ve seen many beautiful looking programs, that is, they have fantastic marketing and they look great visually, but the content is not great and they don’t fulfill on their beautiful promise. So yes, it’s very important to get to the real value of the business proposition without being stunned and persuaded by mere beauty. And the opposite may be true too, because sometimes things of great value are not packaged well at all, and we’re persuaded by that.
So we don’t consider the depth of an offer or a service in business because it doesn’t look great. We need to be mindful of that. In truth, beauty is powerful. It’s the muse for the most wonderful creativity, the motivation for our greatest dreams and desires. I’m thinking it can’t be so wrong or bad like this story might suggest. The next time I’m in awe of a spectacular sunset, or moved by the beauty of the cloud formation, or I’m stopped in my tracks by the beauty of a young man or woman, I think I’ll just sit back and enjoy it.
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 Making it and To Lead Is Human. 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.