Some years ago, three managers at a Boston-area high tech company came up with an idea for a new product that they thought the company’s customers would really love. They developed a plan for the product and presented it to company management. The response from the company’s management was: “It’s an interesting idea, but we’re taking the company in a different direction, so we’re not going to make this product.”

The three managers really believed in what they had created. They wrote a business plan, got some venture capital, and started their own company. And they were right! Customers loved that product, and they loved the follow-on product even more. Within a few years, the new company had several hundred employees. A few years later, they went public and the three managers became multi-millionaires.

But recently, things weren’t going so well. A competitor was going to beat them to market with the newest innovations. Customers were starting to complain about their lack of progress. There was even a rumor that a few of their key employees were thinking of leaving to start their own company—just what they needed—another competitor!

The three managers had tried everything they could think of to turn the situation around. They read every new business book, every issue of the Harvard Business Review, and they tried every new idea, but to no avail.

One day, the three of them were sitting in one of their offices, bemoaning their fate, when one said: “You know what we need to do? We need to get out of here for a while. Far away from the company, from our customers, from our problems. Do something totally unrelated to the business. Clear our heads. Then maybe one of us will come up with an idea to turn this place around.”

“That’s a great idea,” said one of his buddies. “You know, we haven’t taken our annual deer hunting trip up to the Maine woods this year. How about we go deer hunting for a week?”

The others agreed. The next Friday morning, they arrived at work early, spent a couple of hour clearing their desks, and then stashed all of their equipment in one of the managers’ suvs. They drove up to Portland, Maine, where they chartered a sea-plane to take them to their favorite lake in Maine’s northern wilderness.

As the pilot approached the lake, he turned to his passengers. “Look, guys. Before you start hunting, you need to decide which ONE of you is going to bring back a deer, because this plane will only carry you, your equipment, and ONE deer on the way back.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said one of the managers. “We understand.”

The pilot dropped them off at the shore. A week later, the pilot returned. He taxied over to the shore to find the three managers waiting with THREE deer. He got out of the plane, and got angry with the three managers: “Look, I told you when I dropped you off. This plane will only carry you, your equipment and ONE deer.”

“No, you look,” argued one of the managers. “Last year, we were in the same situation. We chartered the same model of plane that you’re flying. The pilot also told us we could only bring back one deer, and when he returned and saw that we had three, he got angry just like you.... But we gave him an extra $100 and he agreed to carry all three deer.” The pilot looked at the hunters, then at the plane, then at the deer. Finally, he said: “OK, give me the $100.”

They stashed themselves, their equipment and the three deer into every available inch of space on that plane. The pilot taxied way down the end of the lake to get as long a runway as possible. The plane struggled and struggled to get off the water, and finally it was airborne. But the load was too much. They couldn’t gain speed and altitude fast enough, and the plane hit a 90-foot pine tree at the end of the lake and crashed. One of the managers climbed slowly out of the wreckage, holding his head. “Where are we?” He asked. One of his friends, who had gotten out a minute earlier, looked around. “I’d say we’re about 100 yards... From where we ended up last year.”

(Source: Unknown author)