Many years ago in a land far away there lived a benevolent king that spent his time trying to protect his subjects. Most of his days were spent slaying dragons and saving damsels in distress. He really didn’t have time to manage the business of running the kingdom, so he sent for his wise men. He told them that he wanted them to go forth and gather all the knowledge in the world about business.

The wise guys sent out on a journey to gather the information and after a few years they returned with volumes of books on the subject. However, when they presented them to the king, he explained that he did not have time to read all those books and they would have to condense the information. Again, they left and set about the job of condensing the information.

After a couple of years, they returned with three large volumes of information. And, again, the king explained that he did not have time to read such a volume of information. Hey, he was tied up slaying dragons and saving damsels in distress. So, he gave them more specific instructions, "I want to know the single most critical thing to know about managing a kingdom."

For the third time, they left, but returned in just a few minutes with a single sheet of paper, which they presented to the king. "Is this all I need to know?," he asked. The answer was obviously yes. So, the king slowly unfolded the paper and read: "There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch."

Remember that the next time you hear a politician speak.

PMO
©2017