A shepherd was herding his flock in a remote Australian pasture when suddenly a brand new PT Cruiser advanced out of a dust cloud towards him. The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses, and YSL tie, leaned out of the window and asked the shepherd: ‘If I tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?’

The shepherd looks at the yuppie, then at his peacefully grazing flock and calmly answers: ‘Sure’. The yuppie parks the car, whips out his notebook connects it to a cell-phone, surfs to a NASA page on the Internet where he calls up a GPS satellite navigation system, scans the area, opens up a database and Excel spreadsheets with complex formulas. Finally, he prints out a 150-page report on his hi-tech miniaturised printer, turns to the shepherd and says: ‘You have exactly 1586 sheep.’ ‘That is correct, take one of the sheep.’ Says the shepherd. He watched the young man select one of his animals and bundle it in his Cruiser.

Then the shepherd says: ‘If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me my sheep back?’ ‘OK, why not.’ Answers the young man.

‘Clearly you are a consultant.’ Says the Shepherd. ‘That’s correct,’ says the yuppie, ‘but how did you guess that?’.

‘No guessing required,’ answers the shepherd. ‘You turn up here although nobody called you. You want to get paid for the answer to a question I already knew, and you know nothing about my business. Now give me back my dog.’