Once upon a time there was a shepherd tending his sheep at the edge of a country roadin rural Wales. A brand new Range Rover screeched to a halt next to him. The driver, a young man dressed in an Armani suit, Gucci shoes, Ray-Ban glasses and aTag-Heuer watch jumped out and asked the shepherd"If I guess how many sheep you have will you give me one of the m?"
The shepherd looked at the young man, then looked at the sprawling herd of grazing sheepand said o. k. The young man parked the Range Rover, connected his notebook and wireless modem, entered aNASA site, scanned the ground using satellite imagery and a GPS, opened a database and 60Excel tables filled with algorithms, then printed a 150 page report on his high-tech miniprinter. He turned to the shepherd and said "You have exactly 1, 586 sheep here".
The shepherd answered "Say, you’re right. Go ahead and pick out a sheep".
The young man took one of the animals and put it in the back of his vehicle. As he was preparing to drive away the shepherd looked at him and asked"Now if I guess your profession will you pay me back in kind?"
The young man answered "Certainly".
The shepherd said immediately "You are a consultant".
"Exactly – but how did you know?" asked the young man.
"Very simple" replied the shepherd.
"First you came here without being invited. Secondly you charged me a fee to tell me something I already knew. Thirdly you don’t understand anything about my business – and I’d really like to have my dog back".