The 18th Camel

I heard a very interesting story this past week while attending a medical conference in San Diego, called simply The 18th Camel.  There are several different versions of the story on the Internet, but basically the story goes something like this:

There once was a wise Bedouin chief who was traveling across the desert.  He came upon an oasis and noticed a small herd of camels with three younger men standing nearby.  The three men were arguing with each other and pointing at the camels.
 
The chief walked up to the three younger men and asked, "What is all the commotion about?"
 
The oldest of the three men replied, "Our father has recently died and he left us these seventeen camels.  But we cannot agree to divide them between us."
 
"Why is that?" asked the Bedouin chief.
 
One of the other men answered, "You see, sir.  Our father left us specific instructions in his will on how to divide up the camels.  He wanted one-half of the camels to go to his oldest son, one-third to go to the middle son, and one-ninth to go to the youngest.  That's me."
 
The middle son spoke next.  "Our problem is that we are unable to follow these instructions.  We cannot find a way to follow our dear father's last will."

I know what you are thinking, and I thought it too.  Why in the world did the father leave specific instructions like this in his will?  Did he realize that there is just no way that you can divide the number 17 by one-half, one-third, or one-ninth?  Impossible, right?  Perhaps he owned more camels when he wrote his will.  Oh well, let's see what happens in the rest of the story.

The Bedouin chief thought for a minute.  He stroked his beard and then said, "I believe I can help you.  How about if I give you the camel I have with me today, and then you will have 18 camels."

He turned to the oldest brother, "One-half of 18 camels is nine, and so you are now the proud owner of nine camels."

He turned to the middle brother, "One-third of 18 camels is six, and so you now own six camels."

Lastly, he turned to the youngest brother.  "One-ninth of 18 camels is two.  I will give you two of the camels, which is a very good way for a young man to start his life."

The wise Bedouin chief looked at all three brothers, who all appeared very happy.  "Now, let's count up all of your camels.  Nine for the oldest brother, six for the middle brother, and two for the youngest brother.  Nine plus six plus two equals seventeen.  That leaves the one camel as extra, which I will take back.  Farewell."

The wise Bedouin chief got up on his camel and rode away.  And everyone was happy.

Well, that turned out much different than I had expected!  I am not sure how the mathematics works on this, but that is not the point of the story.  The moral of the story is this - when faced with a difficult problem, there are times when you have to think creatively to find the solution.  It's called "outside of the box" thinking.  The best leaders are the ones that can find creative solutions to solve problems, and just like in the story, there are no winners or losers.  Leaders can often bring in a fresh perspective to the problem, much like the wise Bedouin chief did.  At times, the solution to the problem is right in front of our eyes, and all it takes to solve the problem is a new perspective.