A Parable on Building Commitment

The story

There is an old Jātaka parable about a monkey king whose troop is feasting in a mango tree when a human king’s archers surround them. To escape, the monkey king leaps across the river with a long bamboo shoot tied to his waist to provide a route to safety. On the other side, he realizes that the shoot is just barely too short. So he grips the branch of the tree and acts as a bridge for the others to cross over. The troop is able to cross safely by walking on him. But in his weakened condition, a rival in the troop jumps hard on the monkey king’s back, and the blow “breaks his heart.” In the morning, the human king — who had observed the whole ordeal — has the broken monkey brought down gently and asks why a leader would sacrifice himself like that. The monkey king replies

A parable for thee, O king, if thou the truth would’st read:
 > The happiness of kingdom and of army and of steed
 >And city must be dear to thee, if thou would’st rule indeed.  >  > The Jātaka or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

How we see it through leadership economics

Good teammates and good leaders are committed to the mission. But it’s not obvious how you can measure or convey commitment. The story tells us that the monkey king was clearly committed to his troop’s happiness and well-being, and you can tell by what he was willing to sacrifice for it. In other words, what you give up for the priority of the team conveys commitment. What people sacrifice for the team demonstrates what is expected to be part of that team; it creates a culture around the priorities. This commitment functions much like a currency does in the marketplace because it conveys the “equilibrium price” required.

The currency of commitment is alive in our relationships with people, too. When we willingly and actively sacrifice for those that matter to us, we are showing how much we value the relationship. We’ve found this framing useful in helping leaders understand that even if sacrifice doesn’t come with accolades or rewards, it still conveys how much we are committed to the team and its goals.

A quote we’re thinking about

The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

George Eliot, “Middlemarch”