Miscommunication - Insights From a Motivational Speaker

This is another example of how a motivational speaker can take a funny story and extract lessons that audiences want to hear.

It's Going to be a Very Cold Winter.

It was April and the First nations people in a remote part of Northern Australia asked their new elder if the coming winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was an elder in a modern community he had never been taught the old secrets. When he looked at the sky he couldn't tell what the winter was going to be like.

Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he told his community that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the tribe should collect firewood to be prepared.

But being a practical leader, after several days he had an idea. He walked out to the telephone booth on the highway, called the Bureau of Meteorology and asked, 'Is the coming winter in this area going to be cold?'

The meteorologist responded, 'It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold.'

So the elder went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared.

A week later he called the Bureau of Meteorology again. 'Does it still look like it is going to be a very cold winter?' The meteorologist again replied, 'Yes, it's going to be a very cold winter.'

The elder again went back to his community and ordered them to collect every scrap of firewood they could find. Two weeks later the elder called the Bureau again. 'Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?' he asked.

'Absolutely,' the man replied. 'It's looking more and more like it is going to be one of the coldest winters ever.'

'How can you be so sure?' the elder asked. The weatherman replied, 'Our satellites have reported
that the First Nations People in the north are collecting firewood like crazy, and that's always a sure sign.

Summary:

In a remote part of Northern Australia, a new First Nations elder, unfamiliar with traditional methods of predicting the weather, told his tribe to prepare for a cold winter. Wanting to be sure, he called the Bureau of Meteorology, who confirmed his suspicion. With each call, the elder was told the winter would be even colder, prompting him to instruct his community to gather more firewood. The meteorologists, in turn, based their forecasts on the tribe's frenzied firewood gathering, creating a humorous feedback loop where both parties were relying on each other’s behavior to predict the weather.

Lessons Learned:

• Feedback loops can distort reality: Relying on mutual assumptions can lead to misguided decisions.
• Communication is key: Clear and direct communication avoids misunderstandings and incorrect conclusions.
• Leaders need reliable sources: When in doubt, leaders should seek advice from credible sources, but also verify the information.
• Assumptions can snowball: Small assumptions, when compounded, can lead to major overreactions.
• Modern solutions aren’t always better: Traditional knowledge and modern tools should complement, not replace, each other.