...A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He spots a man down below and lowers the balloon to speak with him.
The balloonist gets close enough to speak with the man on the ground and shouts down to him, "Excuse me, but maybe you can help me. I promised my friend I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."
The man on the ground responds, "No problem; you are in a hot air balloon hovering about 30 feet above this field. You are located at 26' 04.4 North Latitude, and 80' 09.2 West Longitude and drifting slowly south."
You must be an airline pilot, says the balloonist.
"I am, how did you know?" replies the man on the ground.
"Well," says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of the information you gave me. I am still lost, so you have done absolutely nothing to help me!"
The man on the ground says "You must be in airline management."
"I am" replies the balloonist, "how did you know?"
"Well"; says the man on the ground, "you do not know where you are or where you are going. You have made a promise that you cannot keep and you expect me to solve your problems for you. The fact is that you are in the exact same position you were in before we met, but now it is somehow my fault."
Superb airline pilot-management analogy
