RESOURCES: Review - Staying ahead of wolves in sheep's clothing

The driver, a young man in a Paul Smith suit and Raybans, leans out and asks: "If I tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?" The shepherd looks at the man, then at his peacefully grazing flock and calmly answers: "Sure." The chap parks his car, whips out his IBM ThinkPad and connects it to a mobile phone, surfs to a NASA page on the internet where he calls up a GPS satellite navigation system, scans the area, and then opens up a database and an Excel spreadsheet with complex formulas. Eventually, he prints out a 150-page report on his miniaturised printer and declares: "You have 1,586 sheep." The shepherd says: "That is correct: take a sheep." He watches the young man select an animal and bundle it into his car. Then the shepherd says: "If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give it me back?" "OK, why not," answers the young man. "Clearly, you are a consultant," says the shepherd. "That's correct - how did you guess?" says the besuited one. "Well," answers the shepherd. "You turned up here although nobody called you. You want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked, and you know bugger all about my business. Now give me back my dog."