The Drowning Man

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Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

There is a parable attributed to Irving Zola which highlights how we concentrate on what is happening – rather than looking for the cause and finding a solution. The parable is told in several forms and this is one interpretation.

“I am standing by the shore of a swiftly flowing river and hear the cry of a drowning man. I jump into the cold waters. I fight against the strong current and force my way to the struggling man. I hold on hard and gradually pull him to shore. I lay him out on the bank and revive him with artificial respiration.

Just when he begins to breathe, I hear another cry for help.

I jump into the cold waters. I fight against the strong current, and swim forcefully to the struggling woman. I grab hold and gradually pull her to shore. I lift her out on the bank beside the man and work to revive her with artificial respiration.

Just when she begins to breathe, I hear another cry for help. I jump into the cold waters. Fighting again against the strong current, I force my way to the struggling man. I am getting tired, so with great effort I eventually pull him to shore. I lay him out on the bank and try to revive him with artificial respiration.

Just when he begins to breathe, I hear another cry for help.

Near exhaustion, it occurs to me that I’m so busy jumping in, pulling them to shore and applying artificial respiration that I have no time to see who is upstream pushing them all in…”

One variation is that on going upstream, I find a bridge with a hole in it through which unwary people are falling. Repairing the bridge prevents more casualties.

When you are faced with a situation, you deal with it – but if it keeps happening, the better long-term solution is to look for the cause. Fixing this makes better sense.

Often, it is difficult to find time to look up and determine why something is happening. This is something we, as Business Advisers, can help with. Just sitting down and discussing your business with an independent, knowledgeable, person will help resolve many issues.