It’s never too late to be wise

The other day I had a client ask me a very thought provoking question: “We are sitting on a plane and I offered you $100,000 would you jump off a plane without a parachute?”

I thought for a minute, dissected the sentence and then quickly said “yes”. I had been taught to dissect questions for tests. This indeed was a test. However, not a test to find the right answer.

I had dissected the question, sitting on a plane. That means we are not flying in the plane. That must mean we are still on the tarmac.

Wrong again.

I had played mental gymnastics based on the words that he was saying. I made assumptions. Sitting on the plane as opposed to flying on a plane. Well you do sit while flying. I missed the whole morale of the story. I missed and over looked the thing that I have trained to do for over 30 years. You see, in actuality, I am a professional question asker. I failed to ask questions. I had used my intellect to make a hasty judgement.

Oops!