We have had a very hectic last 3 weeks in the run-up to Thanksgiving, and during that time we have had three excellent days working on Leadership Presence, Storytelling and uncovering our own life and leadership journeys. One story from the past few days really struck a chord:

A lecturer at a university (maybe Babson) walks into his business and leadership class carrying a large glass jar, and three clear plastic bags: one containing golf balls; one containing small stones; and the last containing sand. He looks at the class and asks, “Do you think I can fit all three bags into the jar?” to which his students in unison reply “No!”.

Without saying anything further the lecturer takes the golf balls out of the bag and carefully puts them into the jar, and they just fit. He then takes the small stones and carefully pours them into the jar, whilst giving the jar a slight shake to allow the stones to settle between the golf balls, and the stones also fit into the jar. He then takes the last bag, and carefully pours the sand into the jar, again shaking it to allow the sand to settle, and the sand too fits in the jar. The students applaud loudly, but the lecturer holds up his hand and reaches into his case and takes out a small can of beer, opens it and pours it into the jar, and of course the beer settles through the golf balls, the stones and the sand and also fits into the jar. The students respond with further applause.

The lecturer then turns to his class, and asks the class “If I had poured the sand in first would the stones have fitted too?” and the class answered “No.” “And if I had poured the stones in first, would the golf balls have fitted?” and again the students “No.”

“What then does this teach us about business and leadership?” asks the lecturer and he then explains his thoughts:

“In an enterprise, or with you personally in your lives as leaders, the golf balls represent the most important characteristics, capabilities and the things or people of utmost value that must be present and cherished by you or at the core of your enterprise; the stones represent the abilities, resources and habits it would be good to have but which are not crucial; and finally the sand is the collection of things that help your lives or your enterprise, but are really not that important.”

“Therefore I ask you to look inside yourself or your enterprise, and identify what are ‘your golf balls” – the characteristics, capabilities and the things or people you value above all, and then having identified them, to ensure that they are cherished, nourished and kept at the forefront of your vision and plans. If you can fit them all into ‘your jar’, then you will also be able to fit in the stones and the sand, so that the jar can be as full as it can be, with ‘your golf balls’ at the core.”

I thought this was a great illustration through a story, of the personal journey we have undertaken – to take this time out to identify our “golf balls”, both for our lives and for our enterprises, to ensure that going forward both can be as full and rewarding as possible. We must also ensure that we make the time on a regular basis to reflect on whether all the golf balls are still present, or are the stones or the sand keeping some of them out of the jar?

I know that reading this, you have one nagging question – as the students did in class – “What about the beer?” To which the lecturer replied – “There is always space in the jar for some beer!”