The Answer · Eleven Steps From the Edge · Pulse Beat
He wrote back to the company, a short, courteous letter. I am honoured by your offer. I will not be guiding this season. I would like instead to propose something. I run a training course in my…
He wrote back to the company, a short, courteous letter.
I am honoured by your offer. I will not be guiding this season. I would like instead to propose something. I run a training course in my village for young guides. I would like you to fund twenty places, and send your own guides to learn from it. I would be glad to be paid the salary you offer, but only if it is spent on that.
One more thing. I would like it to be a rule of your company, in writing, that any guide may turn a client back without penalty, and that no client may overrule a guide. If you cannot agree to that, I regret that I cannot work with you.
He read it aloud to his sister, who listened without comment. "They'll say no," he said.
"Probably."
"And if they say no?"
"Then you will be exactly where you are," she said, "which isn't bad." She laughed. "Honestly, brother. I'd have said no to the money, too. You always were bad at being rich."
They said yes, three weeks later, with a long, politely baffled letter from a vice-president.