It’s Wise Up Wednesday! Give A Man A Fish or Teach Him To Fish?
You’ve heard this old saying before;
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
And thanks to Bruce Kasanoff for his blog on this subject and inspiring today’s Wise Up Wednesday!
Bruce’s proposition is that this saying is all wrong!
He goes on to say that “When a person is “starving”, that’s not the time to fill their head with knowledge. The right thing to do is to first give the person a fish – banishing their hunger – and only then teach them to fish.”
And I reckon that there is a good deal of truth in what he says.
As he rightly points out, few of us understand the anxiety, confusion, and uncertainty that comes with overwhelming need. People in the midst of personal or business disasters are reeling. They can’t think straight. Their nerves may be shot. Their confidence may be non-existent.
That might sound a bit extreme but I have spent a lifetime both in Specialist Contracting and advising Specialist Contractors, and I have both experienced and seen what he means first hand.
Do You Know A Specialist Contractor Who Could Do With Some Support?
Sometimes even affluent, outwardly successful business owners and directors lack confidence and – at least temporarily – the ability to think straight.
Sometimes the treatment meted out by unscrupulous Contractors is just too much to handle, especially if starves their firm of cash and threatens its very existence.
We know that rushing to offer a struggling person long-term advice is a waste of time, because what they need is a short term solution.
As Bruce says, it makes far more sense to help them regain their equilibrium. Once this happens… once their ears, heart and mind open, then you have an opportunity to help them learn that new skill. But for now we know they need that fish on a plate ready to eat!
And that’s the whole point of today’s Wise Up Wednesday.
Fish On A Plate and Free Fishing Lessons!
Whether you need that fish on a plate, or free fishing lessons, we have the answer.
If you need an immediate solution in the form of initial free advice* from our nationwide team of highly qualified and experienced professionals, please give us a call on 01773 712116, or email us at info@streetwisesubbie.com (please don’t click reply to this email as it will not be picked up as quickly).
If you are looking for free information please check out our main web site; HERE IS THE LINK
StreetwiseSubbie’s Nationwide Network of Consultants are experts in helping you to deal with everything the harsh world of construction and engineering throws at Specialist Contractors. So if you would like a confidential chat please call us for initial free advice on 01773 712116.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s Wise Up Wednesday, and if there is anything you would like us to cover please email me at info@streetwisesubbie.com.
Once again thank you all for your support.
P.S. Remember you can have a great discussion about all the issues we cover in Wise Up Wednesday with almost 2,000 other Specialist Contractors in our free to join LinkedIn Group here; LinkedIn Group
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