The Laws of Charisma

SECTION TWO

CORE QUALITIES:THE INSIDE DICTATES THE OUTSIDE

FABLE: THE WOOD-CHOPPING CHALLENGE

Two neighbors lived near each other in the mountains. They were quite competitive and always testing each other’s strength. One day, the first neighbor challenged the second to see who could chop the most wood in three hours. The second neighbor agreed to the challenge. The first man started out strong. As he chopped away, the second man chopped for about a half hour and then sat down for ten minutes under the shade of a large tree. The first man could not believe his neighbor’s laziness. To his surprise, the second man continued to take these ten-minute breaks each hour for the duration of the contest. Finally the three hours passed. Not having paused ...