Conversations in Management
It
was a little after nine in the morning when Mrs. Tottenham, of
54 Berners Street, heard her doorbell ring. She’d hear it ring
another 3,999 times before the day was over. The first caller
was a man delivering coal—coal that she hadn’t ordered. She
dismissed that man and assumed it was just a mistake. Then the
bell rang again. This time “six stout men” attempted to deliver
an organ. They were followed by a small army of delivery men
carrying: vegetables, fish, bread, a wedding cake, casks of
lager, pianos, a custom made coffin, dresses, hats, carriages,
poultry, rabbits, pigeons, wigs, linens, jewelry, furniture and
flowers. In the midst of these deliveries, tradesmen and
professionals by the score arrived. They included chimney
sweeps, opticians, undertakers, housemaids, gardeners, doctors,
surgeons, dentists, lawyers, pharmacists, upholsterers, and
architects—to name a few. Over 50 bakers arrived carrying a
total of 2,500 raspberry tarts. Gentlemen and Ladies alike
arrived to meet “secret admirers.” Cabinet Ministers, prominent
business men, Dukes and lesser aristocrats arrived in droves.
Crowning it all was the arrival of the Governor of the Bank of
England, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Mayor of
London. A huge crowd gathered to enjoy the confusion and day had
long slipped into night before the police finally broke up the
assemblage. It had been a spectacular hoax perpetrated by 22
year-old Theodore Hook, who had bet a friend that he could make
any address the most talked about place in London within a week.
It took him six weeks to send 4,000 invitations (under a variety
of pretenses) to the people who arrived at Mrs. Tottenham's home
on November 27, 1810. Nearly 200 years later we’re still talking
about it. He won.
Hook
admitted that he was best known during his school days for
mischief and deceptiveness—traits that he carried
well into adulthood. But the mischievous nature of the Berners
Street hoax shouldn’t conceal the genius of his observation. He
predicted that chaos would descend on the unfortunate Mrs.
Tottenham and sure enough it did. The prediction came true not
because of some uncanny coincidence, but because he carefully
orchestrated every detail (and won a guinea in the process). He
made it happen. When we begin thinking about our own
futures, we tend to think in terms of potentialities. The
future’s a mystery—the great unknown. We accept that it’s
largely a matter of luck, fate or chance. We console ourselves
with the belief that, “things happen for a reason.” Often
enough, however, that reason is the sum total of a
lifetime’s worth of attitudes, actions and decisions. We forget
that our futures are forged link by link through our own
artifice. In the process we sometimes end up with lives that
surprise us.
If you
don’t create your own future, other people—other people like
Theodore Hook—will create it for you. Don’t be surprised if
that future sounds like 4,000 uninvited guests ringing your
doorbell. If that’s not what you’re looking for, it may be time
for a quick self-assessment. Do you express the kinds of
attitudes that promote the personal and professional
relationships that you want? Do you make thoughtful choices or
simply act impulsively in ways that sometimes hurt you? When
making decisions, do you consider both the short and long-term
consequences of your actions? These are easy enough questions
and one’s that if answered honestly will help you build the
future you want. Creating your future can be pretty exciting and
ending up where you want to be is its own reward. But you’d
better start now. You never know when a modern day Hook may be
eyeing your house.
—Ebert
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