Someone shared with the teacher that a person had asked why their staff seemed unable to grasp even simple, ordinary matters — was there any way to help staff think more clearly? At the same time, a staff member from the same situation had separately asked the reverse question — why their boss couldn't seem to grasp things, and whether there was any way to fix that. The boss insisted the problem lay with the staff, while the staff insisted the problem lay with the boss.

The teacher answered that, in truth, both sides need to be corrected — both of them. The storyteller added that the crucial part is the boss's side, because the staff member said they were ready to adjust, but the boss refused to, since the boss holds authority over the staff. The teacher said this is exactly where the problem lies — as the Great Teacher once said, it's usually the senior person who doesn't adjust toward the junior one. He advised that each side should simply say what needs saying, and then adjust toward one another, because when unwholesomeness takes possession, it creates a gap between the two sides, preventing them from being able to tune into one another.

The storyteller added that in reality it isn't so simple, because telling a junior person to adjust toward a senior one is comparatively easy, but telling a senior person to adjust toward a junior one is hard, because seniors tend to have more ego — asking them to adjust toward a junior person leaves them unable to grasp why they should have to, since they see the problem as not being on their side at all.

The teacher shared his own experience: back when he served as a consultant to a certain company, he encountered this exact same pattern repeatedly. The staff were like this, the supervisors were like this, and the business owners spoke exactly this way too — asking why they should have to adjust. Company after company shared the same problem: the problem lay primarily with the boss or the owner. But owners would typically say that if they weren't skilled, they couldn't have brought the company this far — so they saw themselves as not at fault; it had to be the staff who were wrong, and they'd usually have clear reasons ready, explaining exactly how the staff fell short.

The teacher pointed out: if an owner or supervisor genuinely wants things to run better than this, they must adjust — they must find a way to adjust so the work can move forward. But if they don't want that, they don't need to adjust. It all depends on whether they actually want it. The storyteller added that, in reality, most owners or executives don't want to change themselves — they'd rather find someone to help change their staff instead. This pattern shows up especially among top-level executives, because if they had been willing to change, they likely wouldn't have become top executives in the first place. So they choose to hire an intermediary to change the staff on their behalf, since it's the easiest path for them — they don't have to change themselves at all, only pay to hire someone capable to serve as the intermediary.

The teacher said it's possible to hire a capable intermediary to help bring about change, but it costs money, whereas adjusting themselves would cost nothing. If the right person hasn't been found yet, they'll keep hiring again and again until they find one, and the company's progress depends on that. But the storyteller added that refusing to change oneself carries that same pattern across future lifetimes. The teacher agreed — if a person doesn't change, they won't develop, precisely because they remain dominated by unwholesomeness and lack the correction of view (diṭṭhujukamma), which is the tenth of the ten bases of merit and the most difficult one to develop. The first nine bases of merit must be developed successfully before the tenth — right view — can be developed.