The head of the stone cutters’ guild came to the Pharaoh and complained that his guild could not keep up with the Pharaoh’s demand for stone. After listening to the man explain that the burden of cutting stone was increasing every day and his workers felt it unfair to expect them to work so hard, the Pharaoh thought about the guild’s complaints.
The Pharaoh asked him whether his people had agreed to do this work if the Pharaoh agreed to give them food for the rest of their life, and to let them retire after 30 years of work. “Yes, we did.” said the stone cutter. And, “Didn’t your people also agree to provide the stones, if your Pharaoh protected them from bandits and conquering armies from other lands?” “Yes. Yes, we did,” said the cutter. “And have I not let you educate your children as you desire?” asked the Pharaoh. “Yes, you have kept every promise; but we did not understand that the cutting effort would increase with every ring added to the base of your great shrine,” pleaded the guild master; “It taxes us beyond our endurance.” The Pharaoh thought for a moment to consider what course of action to take.
“Go back to the people, and tell them to select a handful of men to come and meet with me to resolve this problem. Send your best and brightest, who will be capable of serving you well. And these men will be honored for their duty to the people and to my kingdom.” instructed the Pharaoh.
The head cutter returned and told the guild members what the Pharaoh had commanded. “Who shall we send?” asked the master. Some of the cutters wanted to send men who prayed diligently and would follow the faith, other wanted men who promised to reduce the work at any price, there were even some who wanted to insure that their food allotment was increased, and a few promised their friends that they would get the easiest jobs if the friends sent them. Finally, the ten men were chosen and there was at least one from each interested group.
The master cutter and the ten men returned to the Pharaoh, presented themselves and asked the Pharaoh what they should do. The Pharaoh said, “Go meet together, and return to me with a plan that you can live with.” The men went to the great hall and debated, argued, fought, and demanded conditions that served their own private needs or positions. No agreement could be reached. Meanwhile, the cutters who had remained to do the work, had to not only do their own work but that for the ten men sent to the Pharaoh as their representatives. The people’s protests grew louder and louder, and they threatened to stop their work. The Pharaoh, seeing a disaster forming and his pyramid unfinished, called the people’s representatives to attend him. “Give me your proposal by tomorrow that will keep your people at work, or you forfeit your lives!” demanded the Pharaoh.
The men protested, “The problem is too complex! We cannot see a way that we can all agree to.” The Pharaoh dismissed them, but sent a note to the head cutter that read: “Tell your men to consider one side of the pyramid. It is only one fourth of the problem that the whole pyramid is. Perhaps, if your people only had to work to build three sides then the problem would be solved.
When this idea was presented to the men, they saw that they could eliminate 25% of the work. The accepted this plan, avoided their death, agreed to continue to provide the Pharaoh with stone for three sides of his pyramid; and the Pharaoh would continue to fulfill his promises.
Returning to their fellow stone cutters, the representatives announced that they had achieved the peoples’ demands.
But after a little while, the people, the chosen ten ‘best and brightest’, and the guild master all saw that their work was just a difficult. The pyramid grew larger and larger each day, and the need for stone grew likewise.
The Pharaoh reclined comfortably in his palace contemplating how strange it was that the ‘best and brightest’ of the stone cutters could not see that you must deal with the whole problem to solve it, or you would face the consequences from what you ignored.
You cannot choose your problems. You can only face them and solve them.
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