Let’s imagine that you’re the chief executive of a large and complicated company, but you’re trapped in a small, dark room that has no windows or doors. We’ll call you President Brain, just to give you a name.
So there you are in your room, but how can you locate your workers and give them directions? For that matter, how do you even know what’s going on? Disaster could be right around the corner, and you’d be totally unaware!
If you were a real brainy brain, you’d run phone lines (we’ll call them nerves) into every inch of the company. They’d be your only link to your workers (which are actually the rest of the body). Next, you’d hire scouts and messengers. The scouts are eyes, ears, a nose, a mouth, skin—anything that can tell you what’s happening outside your company. The messengers are speedy little helpers that zip along the wires to bring you reports from the scouts. They also take your orders to folks who can carry them out.
It’s important to remember that every message has to pass through you. That way, there are no mistakes. For example, suppose your eye scouts report that you’re standing at a window, but your right-hand assistant decides to throw a baseball. Well, that can’t happen, because you’re the boss, and it’s you who gets all the reports and gives all the orders.
