December 15th: Gosh Oh Gee, How Happy I'd Be ??

Santa Claus was thrilled to return to the North Pole. He had so many things he wanted to tell Mrs. Claus and the others. On his way back, he had thought a lot about his encounters with the freelance Santas and the children and there was absolutely no doubt in his mind anymore: Things had to change. But how could he make the others realize that as well?

After almost an hour, Santa was done telling Mrs. Claus his tales. “So you see,” he said as he finished up. “We need change.”

Mrs. Claus smiled and looked her husband deep in the eyes. “I’m so happy that you have finally realized it,” she said. “I know you hate problems and that’s one reason you’ve closed your eyes for so long to the problems we’re facing.” And before Santa could respond, she continued. “But there’s another and probably even more important reason: We have all become very complacent. But just because we’ve been around for so many years and we still have millions of children sending us letters, that doesn’t mean we will always be around. And I, for one, would hate to see all the hard work that has been done here at the North Pole be wasted just because we refuse to face the problems.”

“You’re right, you’re absolutely right. We’ve all rejected or neglected the problems. But my, oh my, am I happy that you made me realize that we had to do something.”

“Speaking of which, I have been thinking a lot about what made you hire a consultant in the first place.”

“It was when you said to me that I’ve stopped making a list of who’s naughty and nice because nothing is considered naughty anymore.”

 Mrs. Claus looked at him, clearly excited. “And exactly where did that hit you?”

“In my heart!” answered Santa. “And it still makes me sad to think about it.”

“Exactly. Don’t you see? That’s what both John Smith and Dr. Abacus McKinley did wrong—they tried to convince us with their facts and figures and great looking Powerpoint slides, but they didn’t touch our hearts, because they were aiming straight for our brains.”

Santa thought about it for a second or two before answering. “Yes, and that’s why most of us understood that we had a problem, but we didn’t feel the need to do something about it. There was no sense of urgency.”

“So what does this teach us?” asked Mrs. Claus, even more excited than before. Before Santa could answer, she did so herself. “It teaches us that if we want change, and mind you, we definitely need it around here, we need to speak to people’s hearts instead of their brains!”

“I agree, but how can we do that?” Santa’s excitement was growing.

“Well, you’ve been away for a few days now and maybe you could tell everyone about your experiences, just like you’ve told me. You can do a much better job than the good doctor in making our staff understand we have a serious problem.”

“I agree, but do you think that’s sufficient?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just that over the years I’ve noticed that people’s minds are changed through observation and not through argument. So instead of me telling about my observations, it would be much better if they could observe for themselves. Otherwise I’m afraid we’ll end up with another argument between those who see the need for change and those who don’t.”

“Right, but I don’t see how we can make that happen.” Mrs Claus sank into her chair. 

“No, neither can I. I mean, we can’t send all the staff to observe children and their parents. Not now in our busiest season.”

Mrs. Claus lit up in a big smile. “Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. If our staff can’t go to them, let’s bring the children and parents here instead!”

“That’s an absolutely splendid idea. It will be so much better for the staff to hear what the parents and the children have to say than listen to me talk.”

“Glad you like the idea. Let’s get started right away. I will ask my pixie girls to invite some parents and have them bring their children along, and you must go directly to our reindeer and make sure they’re ready to fly out and pick up our guests. This is going to be great!” Mrs. Claus’s eyes sparkled.

“Oh, Mrs. Claus, you’re so bright.” Santa looked lovingly at his wife. “You know what? If it wasn’t for you, I would be the brightest star at the North Pole.”

“Correct,” Mrs. Claus answered with a smile. “But even though it took you a while, at least now you’ve seen the Northern light!”

Main take-aways:

?? Long-term success dramatically increases the risk of being complacent

?? It’s not enough to understand a problem; it must be felt in order to create a sense of urgency

?? It’s easier to change people’s minds through observation rather than argument

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