Children's Business Review

Rational Informed Choices Are Not Always What They Appear To Be

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Aris was quite surprised to see Clara’s father, a rather large and imposing brown bear, strolling slowly towards his house, accompanied by an ever-chattering Clara. Once they were within earshot, Aris let out a loud hoot. 

Recognizing his “Hello”, Clara sprinted towards Aris while her father, by no means a sprinter, continued towards the pair at a leisurely pace.  

“Ask Aris your question!” Clara implored her father once he had joined them, settling on a small pile of rocks. By this point Clara was sitting on an old tree stub which was without question her favourite place to rest when visiting Aris. For his part, Aris had flown down from his house and was now perched on a branch at eye-level with his young friend, his favourite place to sit when Clara would visit. Aris smiled at Clara’s father and the two exchanged brief pleasantries after which Aris and Clara looked towards her father expectedly.    

With a somewhat bashful look, that you might not expect from a bear of his imposing size, Clara’s father reluctantly began to speak. 

“I sorry indeed if I’m bothering you or intruding in any way,” he started. After more apologizing, Clara’s father continued, at length, to describe a problem that he was having with his colleagues, a rough-and-tumble group of bears. 

I won’t bore you here with the details of his problem as it took Clara’s father a very long time to explain it to Aris and it was a rather grown-up conversation which left Clara half-asleep by the time it was finished.   

After listening to Clara’s father, whose face revealed his worry and tension, Aris provided advice by means of a story, as he was prone to do with Clara. And this is the story that Aris’ told the two bears.  

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As you are probably painfully aware, there are bossy people everywhere. But, it may surprise you to learn that bossiness is as common in the animal kingdom as it is throughout mankind; take for example the story of an eagle named Percy and his wife Vanessa. 

Percy and Vanessa were two eagles who nested in a tall tree in the innermost part of a rather dense forest. Despite his imposing size, expansive wingspan, strong legs and impressive talons, Percy was probably the mildest and meekest eagle you could possibly meet, in fact some eagles referred to him as “Percy the Pushover” (behind his back of course). 

In contrast to Percy, there were few eagles as confident, self-assured and forceful as Percy’s wife Vanessa.  To some, Percy and Vanessa made a good match; Vanessa told Percy what to do and he did it. Some of Percy’s friends were less-happy with the pairing but did admit that, as an eagle, Percy should have “seen it coming”. Irrespective of how anyone felt, everyone agreed that both Vanessa and Percy seemed to be very happy together and I’m pleased to confirm that they were.  

One day Vanessa informed Percy that she would soon be laying eggs, which as we all know will eventually hatch and result in a bundle of eagles babies. Before Percy could digest this news Vanessa shared her view that the nest they shared was “totally unsuitable” for raising babies and they would have to move. Upon hearing all of this, Percy could barely conceal his joy. Not only had he always wanted to have children but, from the first day when Percy and Vanessa had moved into their nest, Percy had looked for an opportunity to find somewhere else to live. 

As I mentioned earlier, Percy and Vanessa lived in a nest located at the top a remarkably tall tree in the forest. It wasn’t a surprise to any of their friends that it was Vanessa who had chosen both the tree and the branch where their nest was located. 

It wasn’t that Percy disliked their home; it was ideally situated in the middle of the forest and was surrounded by other birds, trees and a myriad of forest inhabitants. What bothered Percy was the feeling of total enclosure that came with living in the forest. In fact, Percy longed for the day when he could both go to sleep at night and be greeted in the morning by complete silence. Percy also dreamt of being able to spend his days peering off as far as his eyes could see, which is quite a long distance for an eagle, instead of being forced to gaze upon a seemingly endless assortment of trees and bushes. 

Knowing that if left to her own devices, Vanessa would almost certainly choose their new home with little or no consideration to Percy’s preferences, Percy suggested to Vanessa that he begin the search for a suitable home and, when he had the choices narrowed down to three locations, he would let Vanessa make the final decision. This certainly suited Vanessa, who was already busying herself by reading “How To” books on raising eagle babies. 

Vanessa did inform Percy that there were two things for him to consider when looking for their new home. Vanessa’s first request was that Percy find a nest site that wasn’t too far from where her mother and father lived. While she would probably never admit it to anyone, the prospect of having children made Vanessa a little nervous and the thought of having her parents nearby was of great comfort. Secondly, Vanessa told Percy that she was fed-up with the way that strong winds would cause their nest to shake at night and so their new home should be somewhere that was sturdy and unaffected by even the strongest of winds. 

It wasn’t long into his search that Percy discovered the most idyllic place he could imagine to build a nest, namely, a sturdy tree overlooking a glen at the edge of the forest. Percy was taken not only by the views this site would afford, he was also overcome with the peacefulness that being outside of the forest’s centre provided. Being a clever eagle, Percy realized immediately that he still needed to find two other places to show Vanessa and that if she suspected that he hadn’t tried his best to find a home for them, she might dismiss all of his options and find something herself. 

Upon reflecting on the matter further, Percy grasped that what he needed to do was to find two other options that would make Vanessa believe that Percy had accomplished the task set out for him while at the same time nudge Vanessa into favouring his choice. 

Over the next several days, Percy spent considerable time flying back and forth across the forest looking for places to show Vanessa. One evening Percy returned to their nest with the news that he’d located three places that he thought Vanessa would be happy with. And so, early the next morning, Percy and Vanessa flew off to inspect his findings.

Being in the same neighbourhood as Vanessa’s parents, the initial location Percy presented to Vanessa clearly met her first requirement.  In fact, it was quite a lovely location to build a nest as Vanessa eagerly exclaimed. 

Vanessa did, however, appear to have some reservations about Percy’s opening offer.  “I only wish the branches on the trees here were slightly more sturdy….while they’re better than what we have now, I’m afraid a strong wind might still cause some disruption,” she mused.

After flying a short distance, Percy and Vanessa arrived at the glen located at the forest’s edge, Percy’s preferred place to nest.  To Percy’s delight, Vanessa found this location impressive and complimented him. “You’ve done a good job Percy. It’s a bit further away from my parent’s nest, but the branches on these trees are much better than the last place. I imagine they would be unshakeable except for during those rare storms that occur only once or twice per year.” With that, Percy and Vanessa set off towards the third possibility. 

The final place Percy had chosen to show Vanessa was in fact a short distance from the forest and, rather than being a tree, was a nice-sized nook that almost looked like it had been carved into the edge of a cliff. Once again Vanessa voiced her approval to Percy, “You’ve really found a beautiful nook we could live in, and the wind certainly wouldn’t be an issue here.” As they started flying back home Percy overheard Vanessa talking about the third location to herself, “I wish that it was just a little bit closer to my parents’ nest…”

Over the next several days, Vanessa said nothing about which one of Percy’s choices, if any, she would choose for their new home. Finally one evening, Vanessa brought up the subject. “I’ve been giving it some thought,” Vanessa began, “and I think I’ve decided where we should build our nest.” 

Percy turned towards Vanessa, giving her his full attention. 

“I love where the location of the first place you showed, it’s really very close to my family.  But while the branches would be better in the wind than what we have now, I’m not convinced that they’d be as stable as I like.”

“A good observation,”  Percy replied.

Vanessa continued, “While the last place we looked at takes care of the wind-issue completely, it’s slightly further away from my parents than I would ideally want.” 

“I completely agree,” Percy answered, with a slight smile on his face. 

“And so,” Vanessa announced, “I’ve decided that we should move to the trees by the glen. The glen is closer to my parents than the last place we visited and the trees around there have sturdier branches than the first place you showed me. I think we’ll be happy there.” 

“I know that we will!” Percy eagerly exclaimed with his face instantly breaking into a wide smile.

And so, for the rest of their lives, Percy and Vanessa lived in the glen at the edge of the forest. Best of all, the view and the peacefulness that struck Percy the first time he visited the glen never stopped delighting him. 

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“I know what Percy did!” Clara excitedly announced to her father and Aris. “He presented the options to Vanessa in such a way that she would choose the home that he favourted!”

“You’ve got a very bright daughter,” Aris remarked to Clara’s father, who was smiling with pride. 

“And now, thanks to her good friend Aris, I know what I need to do to solve my problem at work,” Clara’s father replied, all signs of worry and tension gone from his kind face. With that, pleasantries were again exchanged and Clara’s father nudged his daughter towards the path leading towards their home.