The Cock & The Fox

The Cock & The Fox: Classic Fable

Once upon a time, a proud Cock sitting in a tree on the highest hill of a farm ruled it with his magnificent crowing. One day, a cunning and hungry fox approached the Cock.  

Hoping to deceive the Cock and bring him down from the tree and score a tasty meal, Fox proclaimed “Have you heard, my friend? A universal proclamation of peace has been made amongst all the animals!  Won’t you and your hens come join me and the others in the woods for the celebration?”

Skeptical of the Fox's intentions and doubtful of the legitimacy of his claim, the Cock wished to be rid of him, but felt he would need an equally clever response to get him to leave without incident. So Cock said in reply “Let me go to the highest branches of this tree and verify if what you say is true?”

When the Cock reached the highest branch, Fox shouted up to him “What do you see?”

Cock replied “Amazing!  It seems you’re correct.  I see no conflicts at all as far as my eyes can see.”

“See?” said the Fox, “Come on down, go get the hens and let’s all celebrate!”

Without breaking his gaze from before, Cock continued his act. “Oh! Here comes a pack of dogs heading this way right now.  I bet they would love to join us for the celebration too!”  said the clever Cock.  “Shall I crow to let them know our location so that we can invite them to celebrate too?”

Terrified at the thought of hounds, the fox began to panic and started to shirk away. 

“Where are you going, friend? Surely you aren’t afraid of these dogs during these times of peace” the Cock teased.

“No, no.. of course not!” the Fox gulped, still looking for his exit; “but they may have not yet heard the proclamation!” And in the blink of an eye, Fox was gone.

Moral of the Story: Beware of motivations to those who haven't demonstrated their trustworthiness.

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The Cock & The Fox: Modern Fable

In a corporate software shop, a seasoned team leader, Richard, presided over a team of dedicated developers. Their product development hit some challenges, and some new consultants were hired to help the team overcome them. One of those consultants was a man by the name of Fox.

Fox wasted no time in proposing an unethical strategy that violated several established company policies and was deceptive to the stakeholders by making it seem the problems were much less prominent than they really were. He claimed his company was given special permission from upper management to "do whatever was necessary to win back the hearts of the stakeholders" and urged the team to proceed with his plan.

Skeptical of Mr. Fox's claims and wary of the potential consequences, Richard played along with a shrewd strategy of his own. "That's such an interesting approach, Fox," he said with a sly smile. "Let's make sure we capture all the details of this plan in writing and send off an email to the big boss for validation.  We want to make sure you get all the credit for this idea.  He’s a good friend of mine so I’ll just see what he has to say about it” he bluffed.

While Richard quickly drafted the email of the plan, making certain to pin the whole thing as Fox’s idea and calling out the “special permission” claims, Fox began to sweat.  Richard continued, "We wouldn't want to proceed this way without proper authorization, especially if it involves deviating from company policies. It's essential to have everything documented and approved before we proceed."

Caught off guard by Richard's clever maneuver, Mr. Fox hesitated, realizing that his deceptive tactics had been thwarted. "Of course, of course," he stammered, quickly backpedaling. "Let's hold off on that for now. We'll revisit the strategy and ensure it aligns with company guidelines."

And just like that, Richard had outsmarted Mr. Fox by using his quick thinking and adherence to corporate protocols to protect the team from potential risks and uphold the integrity of their work.