Once upon a time there was a Corporation on a hill. This Corporation was massive, the #1 private company in the whole world. It did trillions of dollars in sales annually selling its goods and services to every country. While on a tour inside the halls of the Corporation one student saw a person sitting alone in a dim-lit room.

There were no books in the room, no furniture. The person was sitting in a chair, rocking back and forth, and was thinking deeply. He was dressed very nice, very comfortable. He was smoking a pipe, looking around, but his thoughts would go back to deep thinking. He did not acknowledge any of the visitors.

So the student asked the tour guide, “Hey, what is this guy doing and who is he?” The tour guide got serious and whispered, “this is our highest paid executive. We pay him $1 Billion a year with tremendous bonuses, paid vacation, and his kids get to go to any college they want for free, because we pay for their full tuition and books as well.”

“Wow, that’s an amazing package, I would love to have that job. Where do I apply?” asked the kid. Everyone in the tour group laughed but the tour guide got serious again. “That person is our CEO. Sorry, but his position is no longer available. He thinks many hours per day and was responsible for many great decisions, including narrowing our focus, buying out all our competition, and if that were not enough he helped us deal with and negotiate to enter every country on earth. Because of him we make more money now than ever before, and we became the #1 company on the planet.”

The meaning of this story is simple, yet profound. Many of us don’t take any time of our day or week to set aside to think deeply. We work harder rather than smarter, and when we don’t grow or make more we are quick to blame others.