Meet Tony Ettlin, consultant turned writer, author of the collaboration tale: The August Method

I was recently preparing for a workshop and my client asked me for some stories of collaboration to be handed out to the workshop participants at the end as a gift. She mentioned to me that she was looking for some collaboration stories herself but it appeared that in most stories – fairy tales, mythology, legends – the hero is typically alone and not a great collaborator. I myself could not easily think of a story of collaboration with the hero being a collaborator rather than a lone ranger. So I decided to put a note on Facebook asking people to help me find such stories. The result was impressive: Not only was I directed to various interesting stories from different corners of the world, a consultant turned author, Tony Ettlin, decided to help us and write a fairy tale himself with the hero being a model collaborator. Find that story by Tony Ettlin here with a big thank you to him for enriching the culture of collaboration. And look out for more stories – beyond fairy tales – in the future.

The August Method

Once upon a time there was a king who ruled his country well. He was wise and loved by his people. His kingdom was divided in 56 districts all of which had a fair amount of autonomy. Due to the diverse landscapes of the country – there were mountains, plains, big lakes, forests, infertile rocky regions and the sea – a great diversity of trade and cultures emerged. The districts by the sea specialized in fishing and international trade through their ports, the mountain regions focused on tourism, in the plains various industries set foot while in the large plains the fertile soil was used by agriculture, in the stony regions precious raw materials were mined, in cities service industries flourished and the capital became an important employer for the administration of the kingdom.

After decades of growth the country underwent a profound crisis. No one could explain why. The GDP stagnated for years and the economists’ forecasts were gloomy. The king was deeply worried.

After lengthy deliberations with his government, the king announced the following: „Dear inhabitants of my kingdom! As you know, our country is in a deep crisis. No one can explain its causes to me let alone present solutions. However, I believe that in this country there is a man or a woman who knows a solution. Whoever can show me within 7 months how to take the country out of the crisis will be richly rewarded and will be taken care of with his entire family for the rest of his life.“

This announcement caused a big hustle and bustle in the country. Smart scientists organized retreats to develop plans and strategies how the crisis was to be overcome. Consulting firms assigned their best people to the project and fed their computers with huge amounts of data. Creative inhabitants developed utopian models for the country. Everyone wanted to win the prize and secure lifelong prosperity.

August, one of the inhabitants from the plains, was also thinking about what he could propose to the king. He had followed the developments in the country for a long time and knew from experience that all the expert solutions had already been played through and led to no satisfactory results. But frankly, he did not come up with any better solution either. However, the well being of the country was so important to him that he decided to travel the country and talk to people. He visited all 56 districts and always asked the same three questions: “What are you particularly good at?” “How can you support your neighboring districts?” “What else do you need to even better utilize your specials skills?” He recorded all the answers on his laptop computer.

People quickly got wind of the fact that there was someone traveling around and who asked simple questions but apparently did not have a solution for the country’s problem either. The newspapers started covering August’s efforts. Wherever he came, people rallied to provide their answers to his questions. They invited him and organized workshops and gatherings. The answers were summarized and put at his disposal. But everywhere people would ask him at the end of an assembly: “So what will you suggest to the king after having visited all 56 districts?” “I do not know” was his answer. People were a bit disappointed. “But you will present our proposals and requests!” they demanded. “I cannot promise you”, he said and continued his journey.

Soon those workshops were in such high demand that August no longer managed to always be there himself. He communicated through the media that people should get organized themselves and to send him the results afterwards. That was not appreciated by everyone but in the end everyone recognized that August could not be everywhere at the same time.

The seven months passed and the king invited people to the big presentation. The event took a whole week. Every expert was given one hour to present his proposal after which the king retreated with his council for another hour and communicated his decision immediately. Analyses were presented, projects and strategies suggested and models for the future developed. Some proposed growth, reducing taxes, providing incentives for consumption, pumping money into the economy. Others encouraged increase of savings and reducing debt and government. Privatization and individual responsibility were proposed by others. Yet others saw the solution by strengthening the government and increasing social benefits.

The king listened carefully and with interest, he asked questions and then retreated for further consultation. Then he announced his decision. It was a clear No every time. The experts grew increasingly impatient and frustrated. The king’s explanation was always short: “Thank you for your interesting analysis and proposals. Unfortunately, I did not find them convincing.”

Towards the end oft he week, it was August’s turn. He had asked to be last in order to have enough time to analyze the large amount of data. He came without laptop computer and no briefcase. He simply carried a role of paper under his arm. That’s how he stood in front of the king and his advisors. “Dear King!” he began speaking. “For the past 7 months, I traveled the country and talked to thousands of people. I always asked the three same questions:

“What are you particularly good at?” “How can you support your neighboring districts?” “What else do you need to even better utilize your specials skills?”

“As you may have heard, my actions have resulted in a huge wave of engagement. Hundreds of assemblies and workshops took place, sometimes I was present, often they took place without me. The results filled innumerous files on my computer but I do not want to bore you with data and simply present you the conclusion.” He went to the easel, unrolled his paper where it was written:

“Let the fisherman fish, the farmer harvest, the factory produce … and everyone supports each other. The project takes its course!”

August waited. The faces of his advisors were perplexed. The king smiled. “Thank you. I understand.” He bid August farewell. As soon as he had left the room, an animated debate started: “What is that supposed to mean? What insolence! That’s not a solution!?”

After a while the king asked for silence.

“Ladies and gentlemen. I understand your outrage and criticism. However, after all the proposals we had heard about and rejected this week, I realized one thing after hearing August’s presentation: We do not need more strategies and structures. We also do not need more great models for the future or political turmoil. Everything is there in front of our eyes. Our people have all the talents and skills that are needed. Every district has its strength. All they have to do is work better together. The three questions that August asked are the solution. And the process is taking its due course. All we have to do is put the necessary means at the disposal and support all activities coming out of the gatherings and workshops.”

An intense discussion ensued and lasted until the middle of the night. At some point the king said: “We should inform August about our decision. The poor man must be starving.” But the antechamber was empty and August was nowhere to be found.

The next morning the king announced his decision: “The August workshops shall be continued in the entire country. The proposals coming out of them will be supported financially if they meet the following criteria: “They have to be based on the current strengths of the district. They have to include at least one collaboration with another district. And they may not harm anyone.”

The decision resulted in a wave of activities. Hundreds of proposals were submitted and implemented. Soon the country started recovering.”

The king asked his people to look for August so that he could received his well deserved reward. But August was nowhere to be found. A week later, the king received a letter from August who asked the king to stop looking for him saying he would like to continue living as he did before. If the country is doing well now it is the achievement of everyone involved. And that is the biggest reward.

Above illustration shows The Town Musicians of Bremen: A donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster using their individual skills working together to frighten off thieves and to find a place to live together peacefully in their old age. Photo by Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL).

Heroes in fairy tales are often acting alone and are not great collaborators. A notable exception are the Town Musicians of Bremen: a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster. Having grown old, they are to no more use to their masters and risk being killed. To escape their fate, the 4 of them set out to travel to Bremen. Together, they chase away nasty thieves and take possession of a house in the forest where they can live in dignity in their old age. Told by the German brothers Grimm in the 19th century, it is an example of how each of the animals uses their particular skills to be successful together – without anyone putting himself above the others. If you already know the story, you might want to read it again through the lens of  collaboration. Enjoy!

The Town Musicians of Bremen

A man had a donkey, who for long years had untiringly carried sacks to the mill, but whose strength was now failing, so that he was becoming less and less able to work. Then his master thought that he would no longer feed him, but the donkey noticed that it was not a good wind that was blowing and ran away, setting forth on the road to Bremen, where he thought he could become a town musician. When he had gone a little way he found a hunting dog lying in the road, who was panting like one who had run himself tired.

“Why are you panting so, Grab-Hold?” asked the donkey.

“Oh,” said the dog, “because I am old and am getting weaker every day and can no longer go hunting, my master wanted to kill me, so I ran off; but now how should I earn my bread?”

“Do you know what,” said the donkey, “I am going to Bremen and am going to become a town musician there. Come along and take up music too. I’ll play the lute, and you can beat the drums.”

The dog was satisfied with that, and they went further. It didn’t take long, before they came to a cat sitting by the side of the road and making a face like three days of rainy weather. “What has crossed you, old Beard-Licker?” said the donkey.

“Oh,” answered the cat, “who can be cheerful when his neck is at risk? I am getting on in years, and my teeth are getting dull, so I would rather sit behind the stove and purr than to chase around after mice. Therefore my mistress wanted to drown me, but I took off. Now good advice is scarce. Where should I go?”

“Come with us to Bremen. After all, you understand night music. You can become a town musician there.” The cat agreed and went along.

Then the three refugees came to a farmyard, and the rooster of the house was sitting on the gate crying with all his might.

“Your cries pierce one’s marrow and bone,” said the donkey. “What are you up to?”

“I just prophesied good weather,” said the rooster, “because it is Our Dear Lady’s Day, when she washes the Christ Child’s shirts and wants to dry them; but because Sunday guests are coming tomorrow, the lady of the house has no mercy and told the cook that she wants to eat me tomorrow in the soup, so I am supposed to let them cut off my head this evening. Now I am going to cry at the top of my voice as long as I can.”

“Hey now, Red-Head,” said the donkey, “instead come away with us. We’re going to Bremen. You can always find something better than death. You have a good voice, and when we make music together, it will be very pleasing.”

The rooster was happy with the proposal, and all four went off together. However, they could not reach the city of Bremen in one day, and in the evening they came into a forest, where they would spend the night. The donkey and the dog lay down under a big tree, but the cat and the rooster took to the branches. The rooster flew right to the top, where it was safest for him. Before falling asleep he looked around once again in all four directions, and he thought that he saw a little spark burning in the distance. He hollered to his companions, that there must be a house not too far away, for a light was shining.

The donkey said, “Then we must get up and go there, because the lodging here is poor.” The dog said that he could do well with a few bones with a little meat on them. Thus they set forth toward the place where the light was, and they soon saw it glistening more brightly, and it became larger and larger, until they came to the front of a brightly lit robbers’ house.

The donkey, the largest of them, approached the window and looked in.

“What do you see, Gray-Horse?” asked the rooster.

“What do I see?” answered the donkey. “A table set with good things to eat and drink, and robbers sitting there enjoying themselves.”

“That would be something for us,” said the rooster.

“Ee-ah, ee-ah, oh, if we were there!” said the donkey.

Then the animals discussed how they might drive the robbers away, and at last they came upon a plan. The donkey was to stand with his front feet on the window, the dog to jump on the donkey’s back, the cat to climb onto the dog, and finally the rooster would fly up and sit on the cat’s head. When they had done that, at a signal they began to make their music all together. The donkey brayed, the dog barked, the cat meowed and the rooster crowed. Then they crashed through the window into the room, shattering the panes.

The robbers jumped up at the terrible bellowing, thinking that a ghost was coming in, and fled in great fear out into the woods. Then the four companions seated themselves at the table and freely partook of the leftovers, eating as if they would get nothing more for four weeks.

When the four minstrels were finished, they put out the light and looked for a place to sleep, each according to his nature and his desire. The donkey lay down on the manure pile, the dog behind the door, the cat on the hearth next to the warm ashes, and the rooster sat on the beam of the roof. Because they were tired from their long journey, they soon fell asleep.

When midnight had passed and the robbers saw from the distance that the light was no longer burning in the house, and everything appeared to be quiet, the captain said, “We shouldn’t have let ourselves be chased off,” and he told one of them to go back and investigate the house. The one they sent found everything still, and went into the kitchen to strike a light. He mistook the cat’s glowing, fiery eyes for live coals, and held a sulfur match next to them, so that it would catch fire. But the cat didn’t think this was funny and jumped into his face, spitting, and scratching.

He was terribly frightened and ran toward the back door, but the dog, who was lying there, jumped up and bit him in the leg. When he ran across the yard past the manure pile, the donkey gave him a healthy blow with his hind foot, and the rooster, who had been awakened from his sleep by the noise and was now alert, cried down from the beam, “Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

Then the robber ran as fast as he could back to his captain and said, “Oh, there is a horrible witch sitting in the house, she blew at me and scratched my face with her long fingers. And there is a man with a knife standing in front of the door, and he stabbed me in the leg. And a black monster is lying in the yard, and it struck at me with a wooden club. And the judge is sitting up there on the roof, and he was calling out, ‘Bring the rascal here.’ Then I did what I could to get away.”

From that time forth, the robbers did not dare go back into the house. However, the four Bremen Musicians liked it so well there, that they never left it again. And the person who just told that, his mouth is still warm.