Reported conversations No. 26 : When I grow up

A little 4-year old voice pipes up from the back of the car the other morning on the school run...

B.: Mama, when I grow up I'm going to be rich.

Mama: Sounds good to me. And how are you going to manage that?

B.: I'm going to put all my toys in a hankie and leave home. Can I take Trouble with me? He is my cat after all...

Mama: Yes, you can take Trouble with you [thinks: one less cat in the bed in winter].

B.: Then I'm going to get some elves to make something really good and sell it. Then with the money I can make more and sell it. Then with that money I can make more and everyone will come and buy it, even the king. Then I'll have enough to buy sausages to eat and more things to sell.

Mama: Sounds like a good plan.

B.: And you know what? If any trolls try to stop me I'll just head-butt them over the side of the bridge and into the stream.

Eyeing her very self-satisfied four-year-old in the rear-view mirror, Mama turns over ideas for the Next Big Thing in management trends, and wonders whether "A princess, a cat, some elves and a billy goat: management by fairy-tale in the 21st century" might work on the NY Times bestseller list...