STONE SOUP
The Secret Recipe for Making Something From Nothing
Bill Liao
First Published in Great Britain 2010 by www.bookshaker.com
© Copyright Bill Liao
Smashwords Edition
This book is available in print at Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
This book is dedicated to my wife Kerrie and to my children Liam, Riley and Willow and their very special grandparents Christine, James, Aileen and Dennis.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to John Renesch for inspiring me, to Jessica Marks and Rebecca Self for their hard work and to Deirdre Nuttall for her assistance in preparing this book.
I also wish to thank The Hunger Project and Landmark Education for the great input they have had into who I have become.
Special thanks to my mentors and betters John Colville, Martin Harris, Syd Teeuwsen, Neil Sunderland and Holger Smyth for showing me the way when I needed it. Thanks also to Peter Ball, Stephen Moignard and Lars Hinrichs for being great leaders to work with.
Last, and of course not least, I would like to thank Ruby, for reasons that will soon be obvious.
Praise
“Bill is a true friend, a wise business partner, a part of our family and a brilliant idea-tank for every topic that comes up. Bill will make you think. I have had the luck and opportunity to learn lots from him in many areas. I hope that Stone Soup will give you the same opportunity; learning from one of the most extraordinary and special people alive. Thank you, Bill.”
Lars Hinrich, German entrepreneur and
co-founder
of XING, www.xing.com
“Bill Liao has cooked up the perfect recipe for a life of meaning, purpose, creativity, and contribution. It’s not only a book of stories, it’s also a book of wisdom.”
Alan M. Webber, Author of Rules of Thumb, Co-founder, Fast Company magazine, www.rulesofthumbbook.blogspot.com
“Bill Liao is a doer, someone who lives by his instincts and who has a mind open to new ideas. He has woven his message, to both business people and the rest of us, into a tale that makes us want to keep reading. I also believe we should take life by the scruff of the neck, that we should listen to what people are saying and be always curious, never jealous or covetous of other people’s success. As Bill tells us you never know what could come from an unexpected encounter or from taking a courageous step towards what you think is right. It is the things in life we don’t do that we regret more than the things we do that fail. The story of the Stone Soup and of Ruby demonstrates what Bill has to say: Deliver on your promises, however small. As the book tells us, our reputations come by word of mouth, by how we deal with other people.”
Carole Stone, a networker who believes
passionately
in bringing people together, www.yougovstone.com
“The 20th century saw the publication by Jack Canfield of a recipe for Chicken Soup to nourish our souls. In the early 21st century, the pace of life is speeding up and we are facing new challenges and need to work smarter. A new recipe is called for and Bill Liao has cooked one up in the form of Stone Soup.
“Stone Soup is full of layered and nested metaphor and is a cookbook that every 21st century business, small or large, should read. Bill’s mythical story telling is reminiscent of Paulo Coelho’s. His approach simplifies what we have all made complex. By getting back to basics, business can not only survive but thrive by nurturing the minds, hearts and souls of the team. Thank you, Bill, for concocting such a magical and rich mixture from such basic and freely available ingredients.”
Tom Evans, Author’s mentor, writer and
coach,
author of Blocks, www.thebookwright.com
“Too sophisticated and cynical are we, sometimes, to believe that the secrets to success are revealed in a fairytale like STONE SOUP. Bill has been my mentor for four years, and our mentorship started with ‘one generous portion of belief’ (the most important ingredient for STONE SOUP) that an individual’s success could be aligned with making contribution to others. ‘Accepting reality, visualizing goals and contributing to others,’ are the three keys that Bill provided to me (elaborated in detail in STONE SOUP), and I memorized them by repetitive practicing and internalized them by enthusiastic preaching.
“Bill’s coaching transformed me from a hesitant and confused fresh graduate to a determined and confident venture capital investment professional, and more significantly, to a contributor that associates his mission with the welfare of the community. I am deeply convinced that success could be taught, and I am living evidence of the magic of STONE SOUP! All the secrets are awaiting you in the book and, remember, it takes ‘one generous portion of belief’ in what you read in it.”
Weber Tong-Ming Su, Mentee of Bill Liao
“I met Bill when he gave a truly inspiring talk on Neo.org, the social networking platform with a purpose. It was not only this great new platform which intrigued me, but the story Bill had about where he has come from, where he is now, and where he is going. I contacted Bill after the event to talk about ideas for Neo, but knew straight away he was the person I needed to support my business, and myself, through what I foresaw as some of the most exciting and challenging times I would face as a business leader.
“Bill’s techniques of working with businesses are unlike any I had seen or heard of in my search for my ideal mentor and member of our board. His techniques focus on coaching, encouragement and trust. He digs deep into your inner psyche to unpack your fears, and ‘de-clutter’ your mind, and self, to give the space required to move forward. Bill won’t tell you what to do, or even give you the answers or try and take control of the business, but gives you nuggets of information. Like a magician, he silently gives clues and guidance and then you can see the magic start to happen.
“Stone Soup is a must-read for any type of entrepreneur to achieve their success and goals in life and business!”
Jude Ower, games developer and
entrepreneur,
www.digital2point0.com
“Bill Liao is a rare combination of wildly successful businessman, introspective thinker, and generous spirit. In Stone Soup he entertains us with some engaging and candid storytelling and gives us some real access to the source of his success. This is the kind of book that actually makes a difference.”
Allan L. Cohen, Business Strategist www.allancohen.com
“Stone Soup is entertaining and contains thematic, powerful lessons for us all. The fable itself is a wonderful yet very practical metaphor. It offers a very fresh approach to life and work…it will do well in the marketplace.”
John Renesch, writer and thinker on matters of
social
and organizational change, www.renesch.com
“Bill Liao is a great catalyst, social media entrepreneur and empath. His insights run deep and his take on the world is always interesting, just like this work—Stone Soup.”
Rod Beckstrom, high-tech entrepreneur and author of The Starfish and The Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations (co-author), www.beckstrom.com
Foreword
You, my dear reader, are in for a tasty, heart warming meal of delicious lessons provided by Bill Liao, chef of “Stone Soup”. Go find a cosy place to read, maybe a dog or a cat to curl up with you, tuck your intellectual napkin under your chin and dig in! Or if you’re in your office, put on the “Do not Disturb” sign while you savour the goodness in this book.
However, I think that Stone Soup is actually more like a Stone Smorgasbord. As you read, you’ll delight in the varied “dishes” that Bill serves up. Where else would you get a spread of locations as varied as Australia, Switzerland, the Land, a convent next to a community so bereft of civilization that it has no name, a City, a carriage factory and community park? It has a cast of characters who will live on in your memory because you learn through their eyes the lessons of “Stone Soup”: everyone belongs, everyone makes a difference and it’s the wise leader who can see the forest for the trees, or in this instance, the soup from the stones.
Bill skilfully cooks us up a tale that stirs in three important narratives: his own life as an agent of change, a pioneer of social and green entrepreneurship; the age-old, well-loved story of “Stone Soup” within different contexts; and the story of Ruby, Bill’s doppelganger in the world of creating lemonade from lemons.
Bill is a true modern man, unfettered by archaic 20th century notions of the “proper” place for women and men. Bill invites us to produce, harvest, prepare as well as serve shoulder to shoulder with him and sit at the table too. He listens to us deeply at our mutual table. This is ground-breaking in the world because it is only through the partnership of men and women that we will be able to really transform our families and communities, as well as our globe.
Thank goodness for Bill and the other Bills in this world. Thank you, Bill, for standing shoulder to shoulder with the people who envision a world that works for everyone, with nothing and no one left out.
Oh, and especially give this book to everyone you know who is serious about making a contribution to the world through their family and work! It should be in every family, school, NGO, government and corporate library.
Ellen
Snortland, October 2009,
Los Angeles, California,
USA,
www.snortland.com
Chapter One
The Author Learns
How To Make Soup
“A problem is simply a
fact someone
is resisting.”
Bill Liao, www.stonesoupway.com
Do you want to live a life that is richer, more rewarding and more successful – whatever “success” means for you? Do you want to master your field – be it business, community, social or personal development? Are you thinking of starting something new and feel determined to give it all you’ve got? Do you want to understand and embody real leadership? Do you want to be and do the very best that you can, for yourself, your family, your community and this world that we all share?
If so, this book is for you.
This book is for people who are open to working with others, who are willing and able to recognise their own strengths and their own limitations, and who are prepared to make a real, lasting difference in the global community that is our home.
Growing up in the 1970’s and 80’s as a Chinese-Australian computer nerd and high-school drop-out, my personal goals were not always completely clear to me. In fact, for a very long time, they were pretty vague and it was a rather frustrating situation for me to be in. I knew that I wanted do and achieve…things…although I didn’t know what, or how, or even when, to start. I had a succession of low paid jobs, none of which was very satisfying, and I had the suspicion that I was capable of achieving much more, without any actual proof that that was, in fact, the case. Like so many others, I was waiting for opportunity to present itself without even knowing for sure that I would be able to recognise it when it did.
My very first job at 17 was with a former student of my mother’s, who gave me some valuable experience and provided me with considerable insight that would be invaluable in the years to come. My former chemistry teacher, Martin, was another person to suggest, early on, that I might be able to achieve more than the lowly goals most people envision for high school drop outs, by giving me a job in his start-up company. John and Martin both taught me a lot about how they had started their own businesses and how to behave professionally with the people I encountered. They also taught me to be curious and that, with motivation, people can succeed in life by starting their own company and working extremely hard. Although at this time, I still lacked the confidence to truly succeed and the knowledge that I could achieve my goals on my own, I had already come a long way from the boy I had been when I dropped out of high school.
After working for John and Martin, I went to work for Canon, where I learned about climbing the corporate ladder and playing the various political games that one has to master in order to succeed in a corporate environment. I learned even more about what a cushy number a safe corporate job can be and how boring and soul-destroying working in the corporate environment can be for anyone who dreams of doing something more real, more imaginative and more meaningful than just fitting into a slot. Through this experience, I realised that working in a start-up is a great deal more challenging and demanding than fitting into a niche in an already established company, yet working in one’s own business is also, I believe, a great deal more rewarding intellectually, emotionally and, often, financially. Similar rewards apply to anyone working in an NGO, charity or other group that aims to make positive changes in new, exciting ways.
“People who work sitting down get paid more than people who work standing up.”
Ogden Nash
At this time, on paper, I was doing reasonably well while, at the same time, I was singularly unsatisfied with the way things were going in the realm of work. The real miracle of my life was marrying my beautiful wife Kerrie, who seemed to realise that I had the potential to achieve more and who - wonderfully, amazingly - was there to give me the moral and emotional support I needed.
Kerrie and I were in our mid-twenties when I went to work for a company called Computer Hardware of Australia, which was owned by a man named Peter. One evening, we were all working late in the office and in the course of the conversation, Peter picked up on the many concerns Kerrie and I were discussing, including the impending birth of our first child Liam. He told us about a course he had taken that he thought might help with some of the challenges we were facing. He offered to pay for the course as part of the company training budget, as he felt that taking part in it would improve our lives and because, like all good leaders, he believed in investing in his people.
As a result of that conversation, Kerrie and I completed the Landmark Forum, a three day course instigated by the rather controversial philosopher Werner Erhard, originally developed in the United States in the early 1970’s. At the time, I had no idea what to expect from the course. I had never heard of the Landmark Forum or of Werner Erhard and I’m sure that I would never have taken the course at all were it not for Peter’s insistence. In fact, I had some doubts as to its validity after reading more about it, yet not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, I went in with deep suspicion and my own water bottle, prepared to take in the training with a critical eye.
Despite my initial misgivings, I now know Werner to be an exceptionally direct and yet compassionate person - one of the most compassionate I have ever had the privilege of meeting. He is also a man of great insight, whose teachings, synthesised from many sources, have influenced much that I have achieved subsequently and to whom I owe recognition. Werner’s insights - which draw inspiration from many of the world’s greatest thinkers, while also demonstrating a wholly fresh, new way to approach one’s way of being and of doing things - showed me a new mode of seeing myself, my work, my interactions with other human beings and the very purpose of everything that I was working towards.
Werner Erhard introduced the notion of “transformation” to Americans in the 1970’s, presenting the concept in a way that no one had heard before. His teachings concentrated on helping both individuals and organisations to create new frames of reference for themselves, fostering a situation whereby they could think more independently and be much more creative, leading to more effective action and major, lasting impacts on their lives and their potential for success. Partly because of Werner’s “humble” non-academic background, he has had plenty of detractors over the years, yet he has many more supporters and enthusiasts, and the great work of various interests continues to speak for itself. Above all, the thing that I trust and respect the most about the work that Werner and Landmark do is that everyone involved in the organisation continually tests and improves upon what they do based on what works through evidence and experience-based change.
At the end of the course, I declared that if what I had learned was at all true, I would be a millionaire by the time I reached the age of thirty, because I already had the aptitude and determination I needed to achieve this goal, it was just a question of tapping and implementing them - something I had not done before, that I now felt ready to do. While Landmark did not give me any actual answers to my many questions, it did give me the start of a very compelling framework for asking new questions. From the course, I took away the crucial information that asking the right questions is often better than having the right answers.
Although I can identify the course as an important turning point for me, I still had to learn many things from many other sources to become the person I am today. I now knew that I could only really learn by being in a questioning frame of mind, rather than by accepting the ready answers others volunteered or assumed on my behalf. Continuing to ask questions, of myself and others, is just as important today as it has ever been.
“Your life works to the degree you keep your agreements.”
Werner Erhard
One day some time later, Kerrie and I met a woman named Lolita, who was then the Country Director for The Hunger Project in India, who we both found to be both wise and inspirational. The Hunger Project, of which Werner Erhard was one of the founders, is an organisation dedicated to ending world hunger. In Africa, Asia and Latin America, it works to empower people in building self-reliant lives whereby, through their own efforts, they meet their own needs and create a better future for their children. This is done by using much the same techniques I later learned to use to become successful in business, by mobilising people - in their case, women - to become key agents of change in their communities and by helping people to work at a community level in tandem with local government.
The work of The Hunger Project is not charity; in fact, it could not be more different. It begins by respecting program recipients and honouring them as competent adults with both the means and the capacity to become self-sufficient, given the opportunity and the tools with which to achieve their goals. To this end, The Hunger Project utilises the same skills, abilities and knowledge base used by people who have found success in the business world. People are enabled to do things for themselves and their communities, rather than given hand-outs. The knowledge that they already possess and their understanding of the challenges they face are seen as strengths. They are assisted in achieving their greatest potential by being shown all that they are capable of and by being expected to live up to their end of the bargain through the fulfilment of their obligations and responsibilities.
“The most effective way to achieve right relations with any living thing is to look for the best in it and then help that best into the fullest expression.”
Allen J. Boone
When we met, Lolita asked me an inspiring question I will never forget; one that has probably had a bigger impact on my life and work than anything else I have ever been asked, before or since. Before we talked, Kerrie had made a pledge of five thousand dollars, which we did not yet have, to the Hunger Project and Lolita wanted me not just to support the pledge that Kerrie had made, she wanted me to pledge far more money than I had, or even imagined I’d ever have, to the Hunger Project. Because Lolita was a great communicator and very compelling in her request, I really wanted to do what she suggested, yet at the same time, I was quite nervous at the prospect, as Kerrie and I had many more debts than assets. Then she posed the question.
“Bill,” she asked me, “who would you have to become to be able to pay fifty thousand dollars to The Hunger Project without suffering unduly yourself?”
Wow! I thought. That’s a pretty big question. I was already disconcerted enough when I found out that Kerrie had pledged five thousand! I would have to become someone pretty special to be able to do that. Yet suddenly, I wanted to be that sort of person. Inspired by Lolita’s question, I made the pledge although, on paper, there was no obvious way for me to be able to meet it.
After I made the pledge to Lolita, while I wanted more than anything to feel confident and assured, more than a few doubts were beginning to arise. Who did I think I was? Where was someone like me going to find fifty thousand dollars to spare? I had been asked who I would have to become in order to fulfil my promise. The image that was summoned was of someone very different than the person I was then. It was of someone wiser, more assured, more confident and possibly a little taller and more stylishly dressed. Definitely, the person in my mind’s eye did not wear thick plastic glasses.
Not quite sure what it all meant, I made my way to a small bookstore on the corner of a dark street, where I browsed through the business section. While there were a lot of great books, some of which I had already read, it occurred to me that the most valuable lessons that I had been given in business, and in life, had not come from books, rather they were encapsulated in a folktale that my Scottish grandmother used to tell me when I was a little boy. The folktale was that of “Stone Soup,” a well-known folktale that pops up in many traditions around the world. Having grown up with the story, I had often drawn on its lessons and have recounted it on thousands of occasions.
Very soon after all this, I quit my “good” job and started my first real business as an independent business coach working specifically on helping engineering companies to improve their sales. My new company was called “Liao Corporation” and it was a leap of faith as well as a leap into the void. I realised that I also needed help in upgrading my own skills, so I, and my new company, actually worked alongside another mentor named Syd. Syd provided me with a class on coaching, sales format and sales training. In fact, the service he provided was rather like a franchise insofar as he provided a proven, successful business model and all I had to do was work extraordinarily hard to replicate it.
In this way, before the deadline was up on my pledge to Lolita, I found that I had actually invested a hundred thousand dollars in the Hunger Project, twice as much as I had promised. I am particularly proud of these first hundred thousand dollars, as they was invested largely before I had really “made it” and doing that had meant finding a level of confidence in myself and my abilities that I had never reached before. I also learned how to communicate with others in a much deeper, more meaningful way than I had in the past. Knowing that I had been able to live up to my promise meant that I was already capable of most of the things I aspired to. By the time I had turned thirty-one, I had become a millionaire several times over, thanks to my network of people, including the Landmark Forum, Lolita and Syd, and the opportunities they created. All of this enabled me to acquire the conviction and confidence that I needed to move forward, yet none of it would have been possible without the story of Stone Soup.
Many elements in my life made it possible for me to achieve what I did. None of them are beyond the reach of anyone who is capable of honouring their word, declaring it as possible and then taking the actions consistent with getting from point A, where they started, to point Z, where they said they would go. The most important thing is to gather people around you who know what you are about and can contribute. In the pages that follow, you will read my version of Stone Soup, related in the context of the life story of a fantastic gem of a woman called “Ruby” who is a synthesis of the many wonderful women - and a few men - who have taught me invaluable lessons about life, business, entrepreneurship and success through the years. I hope that you will enjoy the tale and I am sure that, in Ruby, you will recognise elements of many of the best people you know. Through sharing her story Ruby is real for me now and I know that there are Rubies out there for all of us!
Chapter Two
Ruby’s Stone Soup
“…all endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time.”
Mitch Albom
It was not just a dark and stormy night - it was much, much nastier than that. This was weather of mythical proportions. The wind howled and the rain lashed down until people feared that their roof-tiles might be swept away. Even the stray dogs and cats had come inside to escape from the rain and wind and, for once, nobody shooed them outside despite an official edict from the Bureaucrat in Chief that had ruled that pets should not enter houses, in case the fleas that they might carry should introduce disease.
Families huddled around their fires and talked in low voices, attempting to reassure each other that the morning would come and the tempest would end. They all knew that winter was coming fast and that many long nights lay ahead before the spring tempted the green shoots out of their slumber. They hoped that the provisions that they had set aside for the winter would be enough to tide them through until spring. Tonight was a clear reminder from the powers that be that nature can be indifferent and cruel and that there are times when all one can do is hunker down and wait for an uncertain future to unfold.
In the bed of a small and comfortable house in a village in this Land, which is not so very far from where you live, an old woman lay between worn, patched linen sheets, her long white hair spread out like a burst of starlight on her pillow and her wizened face observing the world from its place of stillness.
This woman was so old that she had seen more than a hundred summers light the fields and more than a hundred winters spread their mantle of white across the Land. Hers had been a good life, long and fruitful, and now, even though her eyes were rheumy and yellowed with age, and her fingers unable even to hold her own soup spoon, she knew that the time had come to pass on the magical story that had taught her how to live her life in the best, most useful way possible. And she knew just who to pass it to - her great-granddaughter Ruby, with her huge, dark eyes and her vast hunger for life. Ruby had just turned seven and was exactly the right age to absorb the lesson from her great-grandmother’s tale. Already, the old woman could see that Ruby was a very special person with aptitudes that were yet untapped and a mind that was as wide open as the prairies that stretched away, apparently endlessly, on either side of the Land in which they had both lived for all of their lives.
“Come and sit by me, Ruby,” the old woman said in her soft, cracked voice. “Come and sit with me and I will tell you a story. You like stories, don’t you?”
“Yes, grandma, I do. I love stories!”
“I thought so. And I know one of the best stories in the world.”
“I don’t know anybody who can tell a story the way you do, grandma.”
“Thank you, my dear. Now come here.”
Obediently, the little girl went to her great-grandmother’s bed and perched on the heavy quilt. She looked at the old woman expectantly as she reached out a little hand to stroke the old, withered cheek. She loved her great-grandmother very much. The old woman had always been a touchstone in Ruby’s family and it seemed that the little girl had a special bond with her.
“Here is how it begins,” the old woman said, and in a voice as clear as she could summon with her rapidly fading strength, she began to tell the tale.
***
This story did not take place yesterday or today – it took place a long time ago when the animals still knew how to speak and before the stars had stopped singing. It was in a village not very unlike this one, when the times were very hard. Famine ravaged the Land and many families did not have enough to eat. The men tightened their belts, the women adjusted their skirts and the children sucked on their leather mittens. Winter was coming in, and people were staying in their own homes, counting out their beans and hoping and praying that they would live to see the spring.
It was at this time, into this village that a strange man came, a magician who knew the limitless power of words, walking with great strides as if he did not have a doubt in the world. His beard was long and wild. His clothes were brightly coloured and ragged. In his left pocket lived an albino mouse and in the right he kept a handful of dried grass, twisted into the rough shape of a man. On his belt he wore a knife, a wooden flute, and a little leather sack. His hat was tall and pointed and his eyes were merry and bright.
As the strange man entered the village, all the children ran behind him as their parents watched with anxious eyes, waiting to see what he would do. This was a Land to which visitors rarely came and those who did come mostly conformed to the strict clothing regulations. It was unheard of to see someone dressed in such an odd and eccentric manner and nobody could imagine what the man’s outlandish clothing was supposed to mean.
The magician walked into the centre of the village, turned three times and chose one of the houses. He walked right up to it and knocked on the door. He rapped three times and when the woman of the house arrived she asked him what he wanted.
“I don’t want anything,” he said. “Nothing at all. Merely a place to sleep by your fire for the night. I will be as quiet as a mouse and you will not even realise that I am there.”
The woman hesitated. She was reluctant to let a stranger into her home, especially in these embattled times and this particular stranger looked exceptionally odd. She had never seen anyone even remotely similar. Hadn’t he heard of the clothing regulations? How, she wondered, had he even managed to get past the border guards. On the other hand, the nights were getting long and dark and she did not want to be the one to turn somebody away in their hour of need. After exchanging glances with her husband, who sat just inside the door dolefully chewing on a long-depleted cob of corn, she let the man in.
“You are welcome to stay for one night,” she said. “I warn you that we cannot be as hospitable as I would like. Famine has been stalking the Land these past few years, and there is very little to eat here. We will not be able to share our evening meal with you. I am sure you understand. There is not even enough for ourselves. Look at my husband; he has been chewing that grainless cob of corn for several days now.”
“Madam,” said the magician, doffing his hat. “I understand completely. Fortunately, I have brought my own provisions and I have no need of anything else. If you could just lend me a large pot and graciously allow me to use a little of your water.”
“Of course, we have water in abundance.” The woman took out the biggest pot she had and filled it with the water she had collected from the well that very day.
The family watched in amazement as the mysterious stranger opened the leather pouch he carried at his waist and removed a stone, a very ordinary looking stone, which he popped into the pot of water he was offered and then placed the pot on the fire, humming merrily as he did so. After asking permission from the woman of the house, he removed his wet boots and stretched out by the fire, waiting for his meal to be ready. As he waited, he played a quiet tune on his flute and his albino mouse popped out of his pocket and began to run up and down his sleeve, as if he was dancing to the music. The little animal’s whiskers twitched with curiosity as it surveyed its surroundings.
The youngest of the children stopped sucking his thumb. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Why are you boiling that stone?”
“Oh, I’m making Stone Soup,” the magician explained, putting down his flute.
“Stone Soup!” the children all exclaimed with one voice. “What is Stone Soup?”
“Well, you see,” the magician said as he sat up and gathered his ragged robes about him, “I am a very lucky man indeed. I have a magic stone that I take with me everywhere I go. I just put it in a very large pot with some water, boil it for an hour or two and then I have some delicious soup. Delicious and filling.”
“Really?” one of the children asked. “And what does it taste like? It sounds horrid.”
“It is really quite good,” the magician said. “I have to admit that it is a little on the bland side; apart from that it’s extremely nice. It is nicer if you can add a little garlic, just to give it some extra flavour. Unfortunately, I don’t have any garlic. I can let you have a taste, all the same. You will just have to imagine what it would be like with garlic in it.”
The children’s mother, who had been listening all the time without saying anything, piped in: “I could give you a little garlic. We do have plenty of that, at least. It grows wild in all the hedgerows around here.”
“Thank you. That would be wonderful.”
With the garlic added to the pot, the old man continued to tend his meal. Impressed by the notion of the magic stone, the children of the family had gone to tell their friends about their strange and mysterious visitor and by now a veritable crowd of small girls and boys, and even some of their parents, had gathered to see the curious man cook his soup.
A man drew near and peered in. “It looks just like a pot of water to me,” he said with some disappointment. “It doesn’t look like soup at all.” He sniffed. “In fact, it doesn’t even smell like soup.”
“You have to give it time. It takes at least an hour or two to get going. And it does thicken up more quickly if there is a handful of barley in there.”
“I have a handful of barley you can have,” the man offered. “While it is not the best barley there is, it should be fine for soup.”
“That would be wonderful.”
The soup continued to cook. The magician tasted it thoughtfully, using a long wooden spoon that he had taken from the depths of his ragged cloak.
“Not bad,” he said. “Although I have to admit that it is still a little bland. It is really too bad I don’t have any smoked fish. They would really bring out the flavour of the stone.”
“I have some smoked fish,” someone offered. “I could let you have a little piece. A little piece of smoked fish goes a long way.”
“Indeed it does.”
Little by little, the people of the village offered ingredients until a fine pot of soup was bubbling on the fire. After an hour or two, the magician tasted his soup again, and proclaimed that it was ready and that it was the most delicious soup he had ever managed to make with his magic stone.
“What is more,” he said. “There’s far too much soup for me to eat on my own. Let’s share.”
That night, the village had a feast of wonderful Stone Soup, soup so good that just the memory of it bore them through the long winter nights. And the children who had been there that evening never forgot that to make the best soup you ever tasted, all you need is a stone, a pot of water, and the willingness of everyone to contribute something small to add to the pot.
***
“Is that story true, great-grandmother?” Ruby asked when the old woman had finished speaking.
“It certainly is,” the old woman said. “And do you know what else? I was one of the children who sat at the feet of that wise old magician. I remember eating the Stone Soup that night; the best soup that I had ever tasted. And I have never forgotten the wise, merry eyes of that travelling magician. The next day, he left early in the morning, while all the people of the village slept the blessed sleep of the full-bellied. Nobody saw where he went and nobody ever heard from him again. Later that day, on the outskirts of the village, somebody found a little heap of clothes, a leather pouch, a figure of a man made from twisted straw and an albino mouse that ran away and jumped into the undergrowth. It was as if the travelling stranger had vanished into thin air.”
“Do you think he was really magic?” Ruby asked, wide-eyed.
“I would think so. Magic, as you know, comes in many forms. And,” the old woman continued, “what do you think the story was really about?”
Little Ruby thought for a minute. “That you can make soup with a stone?” she offered.
“Yes, in a way. And think about how the magician managed to make the soup that all the villagers enjoyed so very much. After all, in the end he did not just use the stone, did he? So how did he do it?”
“Well…he got everyone to believe in his magic and to give him something small and when it all got boiled up together, it turned into soup.”
“Exactly. The point is that no one person can achieve everything on their own and when everyone gives what they can, no matter how little, something wonderful is sure to happen. And that, my dear, is what real magic is all about. So remember, if you live your life like the magician in my story, you can only succeed, no matter how difficult things may seem along the way. And that’s not all. As you go through life you will learn that there are many magicians out there, that they all look different and that they all have important lessons for us to learn. Keep your eyes and your heart open to possibility and who knows who you will meet and what you will learn from them.”
That night, although her energies were fading fast, the old woman asked Ruby to retell the story to her while she listened quietly and carefully to every nuance and detail. She made sure that Ruby understood the meaning of the story and that she knew how to tell the story well and convincingly. She knew that it was not enough for Ruby to have knowledge, she also needed to be able to communicate to those whom she would meet on her journey through life.
“Ruby, my dear,” she said finally, clasping her wrinkled hand firmly around her great-granddaughter’s smooth one, “You have the power to achieve greatness. I know that you do and I want you to believe that from the tip of your nose to the heels of your boots. Hold it in your heart, together with me. There will be many times when people will doubt you. They will use harsh words and tell you that your ideas are wrong and your ambitions groundless. There will be occasions when all you can hear are doubting voices. There will even be occasions when the most doubting voice of all is your own. I want you to promise me that, when it happens, you will listen to your heart. You will do what you just know to be right, even in the face of criticism.”
“I will.” While Ruby did not really understand what she was promising, she knew from her great-grandmother’s serious tone that it was important and she was determined to do what she had been advised.
“And now, my dear, kiss me. I have a feeling that I may have to leave you very soon.”
“Leave me? What a silly thing you are saying, grandma,” Ruby answered innocently. “You haven’t gone anywhere for years. Why, you hardly ever even get out of bed anymore.” She leaned over and pressed a very affectionate kiss onto the papery cheek of the old woman, who smiled and closed her eyes, exhausted from the effort of telling Ruby the story of Stone Soup.
Long after midnight, when Ruby had gone to bed and was sleeping the blissful, deep sleep reserved for small children, the old woman’s eyelashes fluttered for the very last time and she breathed her very last breath. Outside, a bright red butterfly briefly brushed its wings against the window before flying away, despite the fact that it was the middle of the night and certainly not the season for butterflies.
On the next day, they buried the old woman in the cold, hard ground of the local cemetery. Many came to attend the funeral of a much-beloved member of the community, including a mysterious stranger whose bright eyes surveyed the little girl at the graveside, as his long-fingered hand caressed the tiny albino mouse that peeked from his breast pocket. When spring came, the old woman’s grave was bright with flowers - daisies, marigolds and bright red poppies - although none had been planted there.
“Like an ability or a muscle, hearing your inner wisdom is strengthened by doing it.”
Robbie Gass
In one night Ruby had both lost and gained; she had lost something dear, yet she had gained a passion. As she grew from childhood through adolescence, Ruby often remembered the story that her great-grandmother had told her on the night of her death and she repeated it to herself, over and over again, until it had become a very part of who she was.
Ruby never forgot what she had learned on the night of her great-grandmother’s death. In fact, she started practicing her storytelling the day after the burial. She practiced so hard that whenever anyone listened to her tell a story, it was as if they were there, watching, hearing and smelling everything that Ruby described in such dramatic detail. Ruby made the wise old woman’s story her own. Nor did Ruby ever forget her great-grandmother, who stayed with her always in a myriad of ways and reassured her in the face of doubt that she had the means to make wise decisions and follow them through to their realisation. Ruby often heard her voice, like a distant whisper through a spinney of trees, offering her counsel and support in difficult moments.
As Ruby grew into womanhood, she always tried to apply the lesson she had learned from her great-grandmother to the situations that she was confronted with and, in the small problems she had to solve and the minor achievements that she was able to make, she was indeed successful. She had to be independent, as she was all alone in the world. She had been an only child and her parents, who had not been especially young when she was born, were no longer living when Ruby came of age.
Despite Ruby’s fierce independence, she was, however, always left with lingering doubts: Couldn’t I be doing a lot more than this? Is this really all I can achieve? Should there not be more to my life than this? The answers to these questions, much as she sought them, continued to elude her.
Unfortunately, the Land in which Ruby lived was ruled over by a Bureaucrat-in-Chief who lived in a fine mansion on the only hill in the Land and this complexity-loving Bureaucrat-in-Chief had ensured that it was very difficult - if not entirely impossible - for anyone like Ruby to take real strides towards meaningful achievements in life.
“A complex system that works is
invariably found to have evolved from
a simple system that worked.
The inverse proposition also appears to be true:
A complex system
designed from scratch never works and cannot be made to work. You
have to start over, beginning
with a working simple system.”
John Gall, author of Systemantics
From his vantage point on the only hill, the Bureaucrat-in-Chief was able to see into each corner of the Land and the loudspeakers mounted on the building broadcast his rulings every day, each hour, on the hour. All activity had to cease so that the people could listen to him speak, because it was deemed very important that everyone remain up-to-date on the latest changes to the law.
The Bureaucrat-in-Chief’s life was dedicated to making things organised and tidy for people and to this end he spent most of his time thinking of rules and regulations that were intended to make sure that nothing ever went wrong and that nobody ever got hurt in the Land that he loved so much. Perhaps at the beginning, his heart had been in the right place. Over time, as he grew older and more keenly aware of his own and others’ vulnerabilities, he grew angrier and angrier at the very thought of his rules and regulations being flouted, as they inevitably were.
There were so many of them, it was impossible to remember them all, so a book the size of a telephone directory was printed at considerable expense to the state and delivered to every household in the land for easy reference. The Bureaucrat-in-Chief invented yet more rules and regulations to determine how the breakers of rules and regulations should be punished and he published an addendum that was almost as hefty as the original volume. Repeated infringements of the law called for expulsion from the Land, because trouble-makers and dissenters were just far too difficult to be dealt with and administering to the Land was so expensive that there was no money to pay for the construction and maintenance of a suitable place of detention for intransigent law-breakers.
The Bureaucrat-in-Chief banned public gatherings from the highways and byways on grounds of civic safety, because when more than three or four people get together, it is quite likely that they will either cause an obstruction of some sort or have an idea that will get them into trouble. He closed parks and gardens, because there was no effective way of regulating the movement in and out of wild birds and butterflies, any one of which might be carrying some dreadful disease that might spread through the population, with the inevitable dreadful consequences for the economy. He banned swimming, because somebody might drown. After all, whoever heard of a non-swimmer drowning? How much safer it was to simply avoid the water altogether!
The Bureaucrat–in-Chief banned so many things that there was very little left to do, and the Land, which had never been an especially affluent place, started to become very poor indeed, because it was simply too difficult to produce anything to sell, impossible to go into business and too hard for anyone from outside to visit without going to immense personal inconvenience.
Now, even the Bureaucrat-in-Chief could see that there was a problem. It was evident in the ramshackle houses, the roads full of potholes and the empty countryside. It was evident in the fact that the trickle of carriages that had once made their way to the Land from far-away places had utterly ceased, as there was no longer any interest in visiting such a troubled place, where any activities that were any fun had been made illegal. However, the Bureaucrat-in-Chief was set in his ways and, instead of changing how things were done, he felt sure that he could solve the problem on his own.
The Bureaucrat-in-Chief had a son who was the apple of his father’s eye. His mother had died when he was a baby, so he had had to raise his son by himself. The many perils faced by children in the course of their growing up had been a cause of great alarm to the most powerful single father in the land and had led to, amongst others, Acts 756, 827 and 928, which banned, respectively, pet dogs, paddling pools and basketballs, all of which have been known to cause injury when they are misused.
The Bureaucrat-in-Chief’s son Thorald was intelligent, strong, brave and daring within the limits that were set by his society and his father loved him very much. To say that Thorald was also unkind is something of an understatement. The only time anyone ever saw him smile in public was when he was making things difficult for everybody else. As the son of the most important person in the Land, Thorald had never wanted for anything and it was his intention that he should continue to enjoy this privilege, at whatever cost to his fellow citizens.
The Bureaucrat-in Chief-sent his son overseas to study and, when he came back, he made Thorald a Minister of State, as he was now one of the most educated people in the Land.
“I’m pretty sure I have solved the problem of the economy, Dad,” his son said shortly after his return, with all the confidence of a young man full of book learning. “It is tourism. Tourists have lots of money - everyone knows that - and they like to spend it, so the more tourists we can attract to our Land, the better the economy will be. We need to give the tourists something to see. We should get all the people in the Land to work on building the biggest, best Palace in the world. We can live in it, of course, so it will be good for us. It will be good for everybody else too, because tourists will flock from far and wide to view it and take photographs to bring home with them. Of course, once they are here, the tourists will have to buy food from our farmers, clothes from our officially licensed tailors and transport from the League of Transportation Providers and Conveyors. I have already had the plans drawn up.”
The Bureaucrat-in-Chief’s son rolled an architectural blueprint out on the table and started to point out the many fine features that the Palace would have, as well as the many safety features and the fantastic, state-of-the-art security system. It did not take Thorald long to persuade his father that this was the way to go, especially as one of the few things that did put a light in the Bureaucrat-in-Chief’s eye was a clever, grand and complex plan.
The very next day, a decree was sent out across the Land that called for each man and woman and every child above the age of seven to contribute two days a week in labour to building the Palace from the finest materials available in the Land. It was explained that this would be for the good of all and that there was no choice in the matter, because the penalty for the non-observance of the law would be immediate imprisonment and forced labour. Repeated infringements would lead to expulsion.
This news caused great consternation. As things had grown so difficult in the Land, most families were feeding themselves, rather meagrely, from their own kitchen gardens. Raising all the food they needed to eat called for a lot of work as the winters could be long and harsh and the growing season was brief. As it was, they were all barely managing to make ends meet and the winter was a daunting prospect indeed. How would they be able to get all their work done if they also had to spend two full days a week working on the Palace? How would the children learn how to read and write if they had to miss two full days of lessons every week? As it was, they were spending much of the day helping to grow food rather than studying or playing. Everyone knew that the punishment for failing to observe the law was to be banished, and nobody wanted that, so it seemed as though they had no choice at all in the matter. They all knew that when the Bureaucrat-in-Chief made threats, he invariably followed through with them and that they had no option other than to obey the law as best they could.
“You will find that the State is the kind of organisation which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly, too.”
John Kenneth Galbraith
Seeing the dreadful difficulties that the people of her Land found themselves in now, Ruby thought about the story that she had learned from her great-grandmother twelve years earlier. She had never forgotten it and had often recounted the tale to herself. Somehow it seemed to be especially relevant in this case and Ruby felt that everyone might benefit from hearing it. Ruby thought about the lessons the story contained and decided that she knew how the people could do the work they had been ordered to do by the Bureaucrat-in-Chief and still achieve the rest of their goals. Yes, she decided, she would apply the lesson of Stone Soup to the problems facing the people. She would tell the story to the biggest audience that she could summon.
Ruby was a bright and persuasive young woman and, at first, she did not find it hard to get people to listen to her, although it was not always easy to persuade them to agree to do what she suggested. When she tried to explain how things would be made easier by sharing the extra work and dividing responsibility, she was met with terrible scepticism.
“You want us to take care of other people’s children?” she was asked. “Well, good luck with that; that’s a thankless job. Who is going to pay me for that? And what if they get a cold or graze their knees? I suppose I’ll have to take the blame. And what about diseases? Children are notorious for spreading disease, you know. I read that they are responsible for 95% of all contagion, everywhere! Children are even more dangerous than dogs.”
“You want me to work in a field?” she was asked. “I don’t like getting my hands dirty, and besides, I don’t have an agricultural worker’s permit. What if I do something wrong by mistake and receive a fine?”
Ruby was frustrated when it seemed that nobody wanted to listen to her. She could see that everybody was feeling impatient and cross and anxious and she did not know how best to get her lesson across before they all decided to call it a day and shuffle despondently home. Then, as if from a great distance, she heard a tiny voice encouraging her to share her story with the crowd. Ruby took a deep breath and with the skill she had practiced as a girl she addressed the crowd as calmly and clearly as she could muster.
“I think we all need to calm down and get some perspective. I’m not saying that things aren’t tough, they are tough, and I am worried, too. I am also sure that, if we do look long and carefully at the situation together, we will see that the obstacles that face us are not as insurmountable as they seem at first glance. If you will do me the great favour of listening to me for a few minutes, I will tell you a story now.”