One of my favorite economists of all time, Bruce Yandle, gives a great lecture about achievement, based off of the work of psychologist David McClelland's Achieving Society. For me, the punchline is that cultures that tell stories and have traditions celebrating achievement, tend to have those values transmitted to younger generations and perpetuated. Yandle uses The Little Engine that Could as the example for America culture.
One day, as I was thinking about this, Ben Pratt commented that most people agree with the Guiding Principles after reading through them the first time. This made me wonder if there are generally known tales that transmit these principles through American culture. So, here's my best shot at making the connection.
- Integrity: The boy who cried wolf did not demonstrate integrity and ended up paying for it in the end. Pinocchio also came to mind.
- Compliance: I had trouble thinking of one for compliance. I wanted a story about complying with the law, not with a parent figure or something like that.
- Value Creation: King Midas did not focus on what was of real value to him and lost what was most valuable to him in the end.
- Principled Entrepreneurship: George Washington and the cherry tree is all about accountability. The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg warns what can happen when we don't think through a situation.This Guiding Principle has so many aspects to it, I could probably spend hours finding ways to tie all the pieces to stories.
- Customer Focus: In Beauty and Beast, Belle has to understand the beast in order to uncover the reality of the situation.
- Change: The Ugly duckling is all about a radical shift in understanding where one fits in the world.
- Knowledge: Rumpelstiltskin is all about finding the right knowledge.
- Humility: The emperor has no clothes shows us an emperor who has lost touch with reality.
- Respect: Cinderella has many variations, but often the story is a warning to treat others well.
- Fulfillment: The Little Engine that Could shows us a little engine that works hard and reaches his potential.
I know this might seem silly to some of you, but I do think the Guiding Principles are grounded in long-known wisdom. In general, I think parents want to transmit wisdom to their children, so we see that wisdom embedded in stories.
What do you think of my parallels? This was just a first take and are meant to be fun. I hope this lightened up your day.
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