Bring Me A Rock

Once upon a time, there was a Master and a Servant.

"Bring me a rock!" the Master commanded.

And so the Servant went out, got a rock, and brought it back to the Master.

"This rock is no good! Bring me a different rock!"

And so on.

THE END

Research as I might, I couldn't figure out the origin of this little story. My first exposure to it was the article "13 Ways To Be A Better Lead Programmer" by Jelle Van Der Beek, printed in the April 2012 edition of Game Developer magazine. Jelle calls it "the classic example of leading from behind."

Apparently the story is well known in business circles. I have even seen business types abbreviate the phrase "Bring Me A Rock" into an acronym ("BMAR-style management"). I guess for people who have actually studied business or management or leadership or whatever, it may seem like old news.

But if you're like me, and you hadn't heard the story before... it really resonates, doesn't it? I mean, in my experience, this is basically how the entire entertainment business works. "Pitching" may as well be called "rock-bringing". There are people out there, let's call them "executives," who get paid big money for what amounts to rock-rejecting.

Perhaps it's because a lot of executives in the entertainment business lack formal management training that they don't see a problem with their BMAR system. Perhaps creative types actually like playing the BMAR game because executives don't always know what kind of rock they're looking for until they see it, or at least until they've seen a few options, and hey, as long as you're getting paid by the rock, you may as well bring in a few.

But the whole point of the story is that BMAR is stupid. Obviously totally stupid! The Master and the Servant would both be much off if either (a) the Master laid out some clear specifications about the sort of rock desired, (b) the Master trusted the Servant's judgement about what sort of rock would suffice, or (c) some combination of (a) and (b).

Of course, this all depends on the Master changing his or her behavior. Servants just gotta do what they're told, make the best of what they've been given. My only suggestion for Servants is to rise up in some sort of glorious (but ultimately doomed to fail) Slave Rebellion.

Enjoy getting crucified, suckers!