His employees’ attitudes hadn’t bothered him as much in previous years, but right now his group was facing some serious challenges. He sensed they were in for a bumpy ride and worried that he might not come up with all the answers on his own. Yet his people acted as is if it was up to him to make everything all right. When problems upset their routines, he felt they were more likely to complain or become angry than to come up with solutions.

The manager’s thoughts were interrupted by the crack of a clam falling out of the sky and bouncing off a rock nearby. A white gull swooped down to pick it up, climbed into the air, circled, took careful aim and dropped it once again. This time the clam split open, and the gull was soon enjoying its meal. “What an innovative technique!” the manager thought. “I wonder where that bird learned a trick like that. One thing’s for sure, it didn’t need a manager to tell it what to do.”

Returning to his worries, the manager prayed that nothing would go wrong while he was on vacation. Two whole workdays without his supervision! He hated to think what might happen in an emergency, and he knew that even if nothing serious went wrong, there would be a backlog of approvals and minor problems for him when he got back. Too bad his cell phone didn’t get good reception here at the beach. He hated being out of touch.

He decided he’d go in extra early on Tuesday morning to try to catch up. If he was tired after the long drive home on Monday night, well, it couldn’t be helped. Or could it? Was there some way out of this management maze, some easier approach? (He paused to wipe the perspiration from his brow. The humidity was getting to him.) Was it possible to share the burden, or better yet, to transform this sense of burden into a feeling of opportunity and positive possibilities? If he could somehow get his people to tackle their work with a more positive attitude, a little more initiative, a shared feeling of ownership and personal responsibility for their success…

The manager watched the gull finish its meal and then leap into the air again, calling out a loud, joyful self-congratulation.

He wondered what he would have to do differently to create the kind of workplace he wished for. He imagined that some workplaces were different, that in some organizations everyone shared the journey equally and gave it their all, and he thought how positive and energizing that might be. But it was a hard thing to achieve, as he remembered from bitter personal experience.

Last year he’d heard about a method of challenging employees to be more motivated and positive. Excited, he had brought up the question of attitude at a staff meeting. This kicked off a lively discussion in which many agreed that it would be good to have a better workplace. But soon they fell into a debate about why attitudes were negative and who was to blame. He had grown tired of listening to this gripe session, so he pointed out to them that they had the power to choose their own mood. And he challenged each of them to come to work every day in a positive, can-do mood instead of a negative one.

This didn’t go over nearly as well as he had hoped. He realized it was like trying to water a desert. Good ideas were overwhelmed by the prevailing attitudes, and soon everyone was complaining that it was impossible to be in a good mood when management did this and customers did that and your associates did the other thing. He felt like he was just wasting his time, and eventually gave up. In hindsight he realized that you don’t change people’s attitudes by just telling them to be different, any more than you cure an illness by telling the patient to feel better. Sure, people can choose what mood they’d like to have, but it isn’t always easy to change old patterns and achieve the desired state—especially when the workplace routines seem to push everyone back into their old negative patterns. He realized that the attitudes he wanted to change must have deep roots.

Sighing, the manager turned his gaze dully toward the water...and came suddenly alert.

Something bright had flashed in the surf. A large fish? Yes, there was the graceful splash of a tail, the glitter of sun on silvery scales. But what would such a big fish be doing so close to shore?

And wait, what in the world was that? Something seemed odd about the creature’s body. Or was it swimming with a person? He could swear he’d seen a woman’s head and long rings of wet curls as the creature dove through the crest of a wave.

Puzzled, the manager got up and walked down the beach.

“Hello!” a musical voice rang out. “Would you like to make a wish?”

The manager looked around for the source of the voice, but could see no one else nearby.

“Over here,” the voice called. “No, not on the land, in the water!” Before the manager could turn toward the sea again, there was a splashing sound and a jet of spray doused him from head to toe. Wiping his eyes to clear his vision and gasping from the shock of the cold spray, he turned around—and was even more shocked to see the head and torso of a graceful woman waving to him from the surf with a large fishtail flapping behind her.

“Wha...are...who...?”

“Yes, that’s right, over here,” she said. “Do you have your wish prepared?”

The manager gaped at her. If he hadn’t been so distracted he would have thought that his expression make him look more like a fish than she did. She had a warm, friendly smile, white teeth and a broad nose. She really looked quite human except for the strange flash of green light in her eyes and the way she allowed her thick hair to float loosely on the water around her. Human from the waist up, at least. But somewhere around the middle of her torso silver scales began to appear, giving her a most inhuman appearance.

“Are...are you...a mermaid?” the manager asked uncertainly, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him.

---

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