* "A hawk seizes a singing, and much smaller, nightingale. Upon capture, the nightingale cries out in protest. The hawk says, “Miserable thing, why do you cry? I’m much stronger than you, and I’ll eat you if I feel like it.” The hawk is the voice of power incarnate. * The nightingale, lacking power, resorts to reason and pleads with the hawk: “But wait! I’m way too small to satisfy the hunger of a hawk like you. How about this—you let me go and I will sing a beautiful song for you and it will make you happy. Then you can go eat one of those larger birds over there!” Hawk: “ * Interesting offer. However, I prefer that you soothe my stomach.” * **The moral of the story is: a hungry stomach has no ears, even for the beautiful song of a nightingale. How does the voice of reason get around this problem? Simple: with numbers**." (~[Location 790](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B081J97HLQ&location=790)~) -- *** #### See Also - [[202308181107 — AtN — Staying calm within disagreements can be a superpower]] - [[202308170954 — AtN — Productive disagreement can be a superpower]] *** **Tags** — [[quotes]], [[influence]], [[negotiations]], [[teaching-anecdotes]], [[leadership]], [[statistics]], [[voice-of-power]], [[voice-of-reason]] **Source** — [[202308170952 — B — Why Are We Yelling]]