Having just received a great promotion, John was excited about his new
position, new status and new office. He was checking through the desk
vacated by his predecessor when he came upon a letter, attached to three
envelopes, made out to him. The letter told him that if he got into trouble
he should open the first envelope. "Make sure you open them in order and
only if there is a real emergency," warned the letter. John laughed but
filed the envelopes away. Sure enough, within a month he felt the heat and
decided to give envelope number one a chance. He opened it and it said,
"Blame your predecessor!" So John went to his boss and told him how the bum
he had replaced had messed things up and that it would take him time to get
things back on track. And, with hard work, he did get the problems resolved.
Everything went fine for several more months before, once again, all hell
broke loose. In desperation, John opened the second letter. It advised him
to "Reorganize!" So John went to his boss and told him the solution would
mean a drastic reorganization. After this was done relative calm prevailed.
But the day inevitably came when another disaster struck. With trembling
hands, John opened the third, and final, envelope. The advice? "Make up
three more envelopes!"
