Lessons Learned

Jeevan Sivasubramaniam Posted by Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, Managing Director, Editorial, Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.




A pirate walked into a bar and the bartender said, “Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while. What happened? You look terrible.”

“What do you mean?” said the pirate, “I feel fine.”

“What about the wooden leg? You didn’t have that before.”

“Well, we were in a battle and I got hit with a cannon ball in the knee but I’m fine now. But, yeah, the leg had to go.”

“Well, ok, but what about that hook? “What happened to your hand?”

“We were in another battle. I boarded a ship and got into a sword fight. My hand was cut off. So I got fitted with a hook. I’m fine, really.”

“But what about that eye patch?”

“Oh, one day we were at sea and a flock of birds flew over. I looked up and one of them pooped in my eye.”

“You’re kidding,” said the bartender, “you lost an eye just from some bird pooping in it?”

“It was my first day with the hook.”

Moral of the Story: Most errors are the result of previous errors that were not properly noted and addressed.