Dear Jake,
There once was a bakery whose desire was to see everyone have delicious bread. They knew that the food they offered was sweet to taste and to the soul and that everyone should really eat their bread. They offered all sorts of bread. They offered donuts and cupcakes and coffee cake and friendship bread and every kind of cookie you can think of and every kind of bread you can think of. All of their bread was good and all of it was necessary.
Their bread was so good that people came from far and wide to bake the bread. They wanted to know the recipe. They wanted to taste more of the bread. Once they had tried it, they almost always wanted more.
It wasn't always pleasant to work at the bakery. Just like anywhere the people got crabby sometimes, the work got boring and tedious sometimes, the kitchen got mighty hot at times, and there was often something breaking down. For this reason, only the people who deeply cared about the bread and knew how good it was for them and how tasty the different types of bread really could be would regularly give their time to serve the bread.
The bakery wasn't owned. Someone who had known the recipe and just wanted people to eat the bread had shared it. Then a group of those who ate the bread came together and figured out the best way the knew of to get the bread into peoples stomachs. That group of people decided to hire someone to oversee all of the people giving their time to make the bread. His job was to learn all about the bread and sit with the group of people that was always figuring out how to get the bread to more people and to teach them about it.
When the group of people realized that all the people making the bread weren't having time to eat it themselves they hired someone to take care of the equipment that made the bread and do what he could to make all the baking people's work as simple as he could so that they too could eat the bread. This hired person's name was Lyle.
Lyle worked hard to make sure all of his bakers were able to eat. He kept a close eye on the kitchen and made sure things ran well. He was well liked and the bakers tried always to make sure that he knew that he was appreciated. After years of tending to the ovens, the stoves, the sinks, the counters, the utensils, and the other tools used for baking, Lyle noticed that their mixer was going bad. It was impossible to find parts to fix it and it was so old you couldn't replace it directly. Lyle thought about how to replace the mixer and knew it would be easier for his bakers to bake if they had a larger mixer with a more powerful motor. He wasn't sure whether the board of people watching over bakery would approve but Lyle always advocated for the bakers because they were the real reason more people were coming to taste this amazing and delicious bread.
Lyle spent a lot of time researching mixers. He called other bakeries to see what they used. He talked to the bakers that used the mixer most. He spent so much time researching that people jokingly started calling him the mixer expert. After all this research Lyle finally found something that he thought would both benefit the bakers and lighten their work load and be cost effective for the bakery. Lyle didn't know everything about the bakery's financial situation, but he knew that when you are giving away your product you don't tend to have lots of money to throw around.
The group of people that watched over the bakery did know the financial situation and had the power to make purchases so Lyle decided that he would ask for this new mixer. After all, in Lyle's mind, the worst they could do was say no. At least that was what he thought. Lyle didn't attend their meetings but was good friends with the person they hired to keep them informed and sit in on their meetings with them. So Lyle wrote an eloquent document explaining the current condition of the mixer and what he had found to be a great fit for the bakers.
The group of people got together and talked about all of the things they needed to talk about. They kept tabs on who was regularly eating bread, who was baking bread, were people eating, but never coming in to help bake it, were people loving the bread? Was the recipe being made correctly. A lot of important things. Finally the document that Lyle had written was presented to the group.
The group poured over the document. They asked each other questions about mixers. They were afraid to spend the money on the mixer because what if it didn't mix right? What if it didn't mix enough? What if it got off balance? What if someone wanted to steal the mixer? As the group discussed it the "what ifs" got more and more imaginative. What the mixers color clashes with the rest of the kitchen? What if the president calls and requests to have the mixer delivered to the White House? What if Martha Stewart visits and hates the mixer? What if Buffalo Bill Cody rises from the dead and goes on a personal rampage against all mixers in the county? What if... What if... What if...
No one called Lyle to ask any of these things.
The day after the meeting Lyle asked his friend who looked after the group how things had meant. Lyle's friend said that a few of them were going to research mixers. One of the group was going to call other bakeries to see what they use. One of the group was going to call the bakers that used the mixers most. None of the group was going to call Lyle.
After a few days, one of the group called Lyle. Lyle explained with more detail all the research that he had done. The group member said, "It would have been nice to have you there. You could have probably answered our questions."
After the next meeting Lyle's friend who cared for the group members came to Lyle and said, they want to buy the mixer that you suggested. I don't know when you can buy it, but you should contact one of them and ask.
Lyle contacted a group member and was told he could purchase the mixer that day. So Lyle did.
The End.
Can you relate to this story?
