Parables

“Parables” are simple stories used to illustrate a lesson. Some of the most well-known books are parables. The likes of The Richest Man in Babylon, The One Minute Manager, Who Moved My Cheese? and The Greatest Salesman in the World are some great examples of popular parables. Rather than simply stating the facts, these stories force us to analyse and internalise their lessons. Google “parable” and most of the results will involve Jesus. These stories are a great way to teach religious or spiritual lessons. I’ve found them a great way to also teach business and financial lessons too.

Reading the story forces us to think about the lessons, rather than just being handed them on a silver platter. I think that when we interpret the lessons, we feel a little bit clever, and these with stick with us a lot more. By the same token, these lessons aren’t hidden. They’re pretty obvious, but you do have to do a very small amount of work to extract them. I feel that by doing that little bit of work, the morals of the story really resonate with us and hopefully we are more likely to internalise them and act upon them. Below are a few of my favourite examples of business or personal development books that are delivered through parables.

The Richest Man in Bablyon

This is a collection of parables set in ancient Babylon. These were originally distributed as series of different pamphlets distributed by banks and insurance companies before being compiled into a book. One of the parables tells is of an old, rich man passing on his knowledge of creating substantial wealth. Another uses an examples of the Walls of Babylon to show us that we all need to protect what we have. This is my favourite parable I’ve ever read. Definitely 5 stars (out of 5 of course!).

The lessons are the basic finance lessons our parents tried to teach us when we were young. I feel that if this book simply stated the facts, we would dismiss the advice like we dismissed the advice of our parents and teachers. This is really simple advice that EVERYONE needs to practice, but we don’t like being told what to do. Instead, George Clason delivers these lessons in the form of parables set thousands of years ago.

It isn’t condescending because we are so far removed from the situations of the camel trader and the spear maker, but the morals of the stories hold true today. By reading about the ancient Babylonians and their money issues, we can instead form our own judgements and apply them to our own lives today. If you’d like to learn some personal finance lessons without reading the entire thing for yourself, you can read my full summary here.

 

The One Minute Manager

Here is another good delivery of some very simple management techniques that we can use to help manage ourselves and those around us better. Rather than just telling us the three keys to one minute management, the parable helps us move through an office and understand WHY we should be using the One Minute Goals, One Minute Praisings and One Minute Re-Directs. This books isn’t just for “managers” as these principles can also be applied to our own lives. Read the my full summary here.

 

Who Moved My Cheese?

This is perhaps the most well known, but the one I enjoyed the least. Again, the parable style was good in making me interpret the lesson for myself, but I found this book really really smacked us over the head repeatedly to make sure we didn’t miss the message. The other I think were a little more subtle but you could definitely still work out the lessons. This one really didn’t try to hide it at all. The message is still great in helping us cope with change. Definitely a must read for anyone about to undergo a big change in their life, be that in their employment, relationships, family, friends, living arrangements and so on. If you don’t want to read the book yourself, here’s my summary.

 

The Greatest Salesman in the World

Probably my second favourite, but this one is a little lesser well known. This was again set in ancient times. I won’t give away the big twist at the end, but it was set around 2016 or 2017 years ago… Whilst the title suggests this book is for “salesman”, don’t be turned off. The 10 scrolls were fantastic and you can (and should) apply these to all aspects of life. Definitely worth the read! Or check out my summary here.