a report on cost saving ideas by two of our top creative analysts
and it now appears that some idiot fired them yesterday. However,
we are in the process of getting everything straightened out, and
they should be here soon."
"I hope it's Scott and Tina," one of the other executives said.
"They're really brilliant."
"If unconventional," noted another.
"Unconventional or not," said the Chief Operating Officer, "I'll
never forget how they saved us eighty-six million dollars on the
Dazzle II by helping us reduce the number of parts. And when their
expense account came through, all they'd bought were radio batteries
and a couple of reams of paper."
"I remember that," said the first executive. "No fancy research, no
costly experiments, just pure thought, just great ideas. They
actually know how to think."
"What kind of a jerk would fire people like that?" someone asked.
And so it was that the new Vice President for Design Concepts was
invited to take his skills to some other company, even though he
could recite the exact cost of every part of every car the
corporation made.
The Wall and the Bridge
In the high country of a far away land there once stood a massive
wall, blocking the pass between two mountains. Just below the wall
was a path leading around the mountains--a path made possible by
a bridge connecting it across a deep chasm directly in front of
the wall.
Now, the wall and the bridge were always bickering. One day when an
old peddler leading an even older mule with a load of shabby wares
crossed the bridge on the way to a distant fair, the wall said to
the bridge, "You know, the trouble with you is that you have
absolutely no discretion. You let just anyone walk over you. In
fact, you're the slut of architectural forms, granting promiscuous
entry to all and sundry."
"Is the greenness I see all over you moss or envy?" replied the
bridge. "I enable people to fulfill their dreams; I provide
opportunity for a better life. You're just an obstructionist, but
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