When we try to solve a problem, we often think, 'How can I stop it?'
But a truly wise person thinks, 'How can I get everyone to help?'
In the middle of a bustling New York City, there is a botanical garden filled with jewel-like flowers and rare bonsai trees.
Although this place is always crowded with tourists from all over the world, the manager had one major concern. It was the flowers and trees that were gradually disappearing.
Usually, they would have written this on the main gate:
"A $200 fine will be imposed for unauthorized plant harvesting."
But the sign at this botanical garden was completely different.
"A $200 reward will be given to anyone who reports stealing flowers and trees."
A tourist asked the manager in bewilderment:
"Isn't it more common to just put up a sign saying to pay a fine?" Then the manager smiled and replied, "If we had posted a fine notice, my few staff members and I would have had to spend the whole day glaring and searching for thieves. But what about now? Aren't all the hundreds of visitors who have entered this botanical garden voluntarily becoming 'reliable security guards' protecting our plants?"
It is about which direction you steer people's psychology.
Punishment: Defines people as 'potential criminals.' The relationship between the manager and the visitor becomes one of the observer and the observed. If surveillance becomes lax, violations can occur at any time.
Reward: Elevates visitors to the status of 'good helpers.' People feel both the expectation of reward and a sense of justice, leading them to actively participate in protecting the botanical garden.
It is easy to think of highly intelligent people as 'people with a lot of knowledge.'
However, a truly highly intelligent person is someone who breaks the given frame and creates a new game.
A foolish person always follows the same path and ponders, "Why doesn't the world go my way?", but an innovator uses the "principles of how the world moves" to pave a new path itself.
Koreans have a particularly strong sense of community and 'jeong'.
Therefore, rather than simply stifling with laws and regulations, it often demonstrates a much greater explosive power when providing the justification of "upholding values together."
For example, it is similar to how teamwork and performance improve simultaneously when a reward such as "snack support for teams that encourage each other to arrive on time" is offered, rather than creating an atmosphere of fear at work by saying "fine for being late."
An attitude of contemplating "How can we change this situation for the better?" rather than pointing at others and blaming them by saying "That person did something wrong."
Isn't that exactly the form of mature intelligence we should aspire to?
A mindset is the most precise measure that determines a person's future.
It is greedy to hope for today to change while thinking the same way as yesterday.
Insisting only on rigid methods is locking yourself in an old drawer.
The world now wants people who think 'differently,' beyond those who just 'work hard.'
Just as the manager of the New York Botanical Garden protected the garden by borrowing the eyes of hundreds of people, why don't we also shift our perspective just slightly when facing the problems of our lives?
I do not need to shoulder every burden myself.
If you know how to move people's hearts, all the energy in the world can become the driving force to help you.
