Esop's fables

BY AJITH PILLAI| IN Opinion | 13/06/2013

B&S share excerpts from Esop's fables, with their own interpretations, with The Hoot since it covered in detail Forbes (India) sacking its editor and three senior staffers.

AJITH PILLAI says they are a must read for journalists, whistleblowers, employees and HR managers.

Who hasn't heard of Aesop's fables? Haven't we all read some of them in school and marvelled at the slave and storyteller of ancient Greece who spun out hundreds of tales with a moral twist at the end. These were remarkable animal stories and fictitious anecdotes with simple insights relevant for all times to come. Aesop is believed to have lived between 620 and 560 BC and has been much celebrated and immortalised after his death. But little is known of one of his talented descendants, Esop - he was named after his illustrious forefather but he pleaded with his parents and had the 'A' dropped since he felt it was silent and therefore redundant. This proved to be a mistake for which the lad would pay dearly in later life -- all his futuristic outpourings in prose (on matters related to employee management) went unnoticed and ignored since he was just another Esop and not Aesop. Moreover, he did not have a 14th century equivalent of an MBA from Harvard, which incidentally was ruled at that point by a Red Indian tribal chief who had yet not learnt to spell University and had never eaten a burger at McDonalds.

Luckily for Esop, several centuries after his death (may god bless his soul), two management students, Bailey and Shelly (B&S) from Wharton stumbled on his writings. They were in Athens on a budget holiday and near the Acropolis Museum (under a tree, where else?) they found wrapped in sheepskin what they knew were ancient texts. Since Greek was Latin, or for that matter Tamil to them, they sought the help of an expert in classical Greek literature. He was a wise old gent who not only agreed to decipher the contents but also accepted payment by American Express credit card. Anyway, to cut a long story short, after two five hour sessions with him our duo from Wharton came away all excited and spent the rest of their holiday in their hotel room going over the elaborate notes they had made.

All this was last December. Now B&S have collaborated to put together a collection of Esop's fables with their own interpretations for the benefit of "21st century dudes." And ahead of finding a publisher they generously agreed to share excerpts from their book with media websites since Esop had written it with the hope that he will reach out to people through town criers - the original journalist or disseminator of news. The Hoot was chosen in India since it covered in detail Forbes (India) sacking its editor and three senior staffers. So, here is a sampling:

ESOP'S FABLES-with contemporary interpretation in parenthesis.

The Gullible Horse and the Jackal: Once upon a time there lived a crafty jackal in a jungle. One sultry morning he chanced upon a horse minding its own business. "Work for me," said the Jackal and I will give you a piece of this forest. Horsey wanted to know the nature of the work. "Serve me for two years and a rich part of this land is all yours," it was told. The offer was accepted and so the horse became a beast of burden doing the donkey's work. Two years quickly passed and it demanded the 'promised land'. "What land?" wondered the Jackal. "I promised nothing-it was all a joke. Anyway, I have some old foxes who I promised to accommodate in this forest. Thanks for all the help my friend. Do you want a lump of sugar?"

(The crafty fox lived in the jungle probably because he failed to get a housing loan. Horsey was simply fooled into believing that the promise made to him would be honoured. This is a tale one often hears from employees who allege being given a raw deal by their employers. Moral of the story: you are not only known by the company you keep but also the company you join.)

His Master's Faithful: Anaxos was a sturdy and loyal Alsatian who guarded his master's home with the hope that he would finally be compensated for it. He recalled how he had wagged his tail with glee when he was assured a soft bed and a kennel, more than enough to eat and a good life. But soon the bed was taken away, the food was rationed and there was not a word about the good life. When Anaxos confronted his master he was told that these were tough times and that business was down. But he promised to promote him to 'Top Dog'. Anaxos knew that it would be a dog's life even if he got a new tag.

(Anaxos' sob story sounds familiar. Economic slowdown, downturn, financial crisis are all expressions that one hears when promised sops are taken away and an employee gets promoted instead so that he/she lives under the illusion of having been rewarded. Or worse, they are promised dud shares under the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) as a sop and made to work more. Moral of the story: You must learn the art of knowing who and what to believe. And if the company is indeed not doing well, how will ESOPs help? A dollar in hand is worth two shares in the stock market.)

The Fox and the Crow: A crow was perched on the lowest branch of a tall tree with a piece of meat in its beak. Along came a fox and started praising the crow for possessing a mellifluous voice. Carried away by the flattery, the bird brimmed with pride and burst into song. The meat fell from its beak and the fox made good with it.

(Though not familiar with banking, the crow ought to have known that a tree has several branches and that the top ones are far safer. But its real flaw was falling for the flattery of the fox. Being wily, managements also play the same foxy trick-they praise people under them for all the good work done, send congratulatory text messages and memos and when they have used them they simply discard them. To mask the dismissal the hapless sods are told that the company is being restructured or are going through a process of integration. Moral: Don't get carried away by praise. Each night when you hit the sack, think of options before you in the event of the bosses hitting the sack button. And remember managements do try to fo(r)b(es) you off with a few month's salary.)

The Parrot and the Pigeon: Panora the parrot and Penelope the pigeon became enemies overnight. The former had learnt from a friend that the latter was hare brained and so it kept on parroting what was told to it. So what started as barbed taunts soon turned into a violent argument and Penelope upset with the ravings and ranting felt it had no choice but to find another tree to nest. Caught off guard, Panora chirped a feeble goodbye. Otherwise it would have said good riddance.

(Birds can't flock together if they are not of the same feather. In the same way those holding liberal views suddenly find themselves out of favour with those who swear by the opposite ideology. When there is a mismatch like that, there can be trouble in the offing. Moral: heed the warning signals and exit before being shown the door...)

Esop's Fables should find a publisher. If not, it will be made available on the net. A must read for journalists, whistleblowers, employees and HR managers.