Latest News Updates:Newsflash! The New Risk Management Code of Practice, BS 31100:2008, settles into operation Carbon Offsetting Case Study The Institute of Chartered Accountants, England and Wales, explores the Merits of Being Low Carbon Railway Strategies... Railway Strategies Magazine Publishes Touchstone Renard Article Press Release... Touchstone Renard announces the appointment of a new Account Manager Press Release... Risk Management Sheds Light at the End of the Rail Tunnel Press Release... Working to Sustain Our Environment is Energy Well Spent ISO 9001 Anniversary Press Release... Tube Lines Commercial Director Joins Consultants at Brooklands to Tell Them How It Is The Problem of Rail Trespassing Stopping Rail Trespassers in Their Tracks is Not Just a British Problem A 21st Anniversary Parallel... In the Press... Woking Review newspaper reports on Touchstone Tearaways Summer 2008 BiBiC charity drive Touchstone Renard Hosts London Conference... Global Transport Challenges: London 2008 Conference Productivity Issue Explored... Is Prompt Payment Linked to Productivity? International Rail Conference... Award from Network Rail... New Framework Agreement Awarded to Touchstone Renard by Network Rail European Railway Hires Touchstone Renard... Touchstone Renard Hired to Improve Safety of European Railway Company Society for Quality National Conference... Important Seminars from Touchstone Renard... Check out six important Seminars from Touchstone Renard Introducing Touchstone Renard Knowledge Base... Our Contact Details... If you prefer, please use the Play / Pause button on the right side of the scroller above. |
Please note: our website code has detected that you appear to be viewing this site using an old or broken web browser, or a version that does not support Web standards properly. This site will look much better in a web browser that supports Web standards. Therefore, please consider upgrading to a current web browser version. However, this site is still accessible to any browser or Internet access device. You are here: Management Consultants Home :: Management Consultants, Opportunity Value and The Touchstone Fable
The book wasn't very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"! The Touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold. So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles. He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the Touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold - throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea. The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however, about mid - afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realised what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away. So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant, it's easy to fail to recognise an opportunity when it is in hand and it's just as easy to throw it away. Author Unknown :: Top of page ::
|
|
|
|
||