Once Upon a Business – Episode 99
The Wise Old Owl
Lisa Bloom: There was an old owl who lived in an oak tree. Every day, he observed incidents that occurred around him. Yesterday, he watched as a young boy helped an older man carry a heavy basket. Today, he saw a young girl shouting at her mother. The more he saw, the less he spoke.
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 you can discover the amazing lessons relevant for business and for entrepreneurs.
As the days went on, the owls spoke less but heard more. He heard people talking and telling stories. He heard a woman saying an elephant jumped over a fence. He heard a man saying that he had never made a mistake. The old owl had seen and heard what happened to people. Some became better and some became worse. But the old owl in the tree had become wiser each day.
They say wisdom comes with age, but without being too impertinent, I’ve definitely met people at a ripe old age who are not terribly wise. And when a young person seems wise, they say that they’re an old soul or that they’ve been here before. It would make you wonder, where does wisdom come from? This story would suggest that wisdom comes from observation. I remember a time when I would be told not to stare. It’s rude, they would say. So how exactly do we observe? How do we get wise?
In business, we hear that part of the reason to hire a mentor or a coach is to access their wisdom, to cut short the path to success by learning from people who’ve been there or worked and guided others who’ve reached levels of success. As a coach and mentor, I’ve observed hundreds or maybe thousands of business owners make all the mistakes in the book and of course do lots of things right. Does that make me wise? I don’t really think so. Business savvy, perhaps. Wise, I’m not so sure.
So I go back to the story and wonder, what is it that makes us wise?
The old owl watched as the young boy helped an older man carry a heavy basket and a young girl shouting at her mother. The more he saw, the less he spoke. So the owl is not moved by kindness or meanness. He learns to speak less and simply listen to and observe the stories around him, including the wild and crazy ones, like the elephant jumping over a fence and the man who never makes mistakes. The story says that some people became better, others worse, but the owl became wise. It’s a little confusing, right? Well, today I did a shiver call. I visited a family in mourning after the death of a loved one.
In this case, it was my good friend’s father who had passed away. Larry was 96 when he passed and in reasonable health. He lived a good life and was known for his positivity and how personable and sweet he was. My friend shared some photos and videos taken of him over the last few years. In one, they asked him, so what can you advise after living for such a long life? Larry thought for a moment and said, oh, I wouldn’t know anything about that. He had a playful look in his eye, and they told me it was so typical of him. A combination of modesty and genuinely being in the present, without awareness of past or future. So beautiful.
Then there was another story about him. How they asked him, do you think you were born joyful or did you learn it again? He thought for a while, and then he said, yes, I was born joyful. This was a man who fled Germany as a child just before it got too late for Jewish people to leave. A man who had to spend a few years as a child moving from country to country until his parents managed to find a future and a home in the United States. Yet he saw himself as born joyful. It seems so wise. After this lovely remembering, I left full of thoughts about the origins of wisdom. Is it about observation or experience? Is it in you when you’re born? Or can you acquire it as you grow up and experience life? Do you have a predisposition to becoming wise? Or is it just left over rememberings of previous lifetimes, different incarnations
And in business? Is it smart to even pursue wisdom? Or should you simply be happy when you pick up a wise word, a piece of advice, or catch a special moment that you sense later? Is the witnessing of some great wisdom that’s moving around you? Of course I don’t have an answer, but perhaps the answer lies in the question. Maybe wisdom comes from this kind of pondering. Maybe it’s the patience that we need to embrace when we ask the big questions and need to wait a while, perhaps an entire lifetime, for the answer. Maybe we’re just lucky if we stumble upon someone who’s wise or even become wise ourselves.
One thing I know for sure is that stories embody wisdom that’s passed down from generation to generation from entire cultures and communities. And I think this is the message of this story, too. The old owl listens to stories and he becomes wise. So perhaps that’s our path forward, to continue to be curious, to talk to the young and the old, the smart and the silly and to always, always listen to stories.
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 Neuroscience of Coaching. 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.