Once upon a time, there was a shepherd who was tending his sheep in a lonely area.

Suddenly, a brand new gray sports car appeared in a cloud of dust and stopped right next to him. The driver of the car, a young man in a Brioni suit, Cerutti shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses, and a YSL tie got out and asked him, "If I guess how many sheep you have, can I have one?"

The shepherd looks at the young man, then at his peacefully grazing sheep (it is a large flock), and says calmly, "All right."

The young man parks the sports car, connects his laptop to his cell phone, goes to Google Earth on the Internet, scans the area with the help of his GPS satellite navigation system, opens a database and 60 Excel spreadsheets with a myriad of formulas. Finally, he prints out a 150-page report on his high-tech mini printer, turns to the shepherd and says, "You have exactly 1,586 sheep here."

The shepherd says, "That's right, pick a sheep."

The young man takes a sheep and loads it into the small trunk of his sports car.

The shepherd watches him and says, "If I guess your profession, will you give me back the sheep?"

The young man replies, "Sure, why not?"

The shepherd says, "You're a management consultant."

"That's right, how did you know?" the young man wants to know.

"It's very simple," says the shepherd, "firstly, you came here even though no one called you. Secondly, you want a sheep as payment for telling me something I already know, and thirdly, you have no idea what I do. Now give me back my dog!"