Marketing
One successful businessman entered old age and realized that the time had come for someone to replace him.
Instead of choosing his successor among his assistants or his relatives, he decided to do something unusual. He invited all potential candidates, CFOs, heads of departments and plants, treasurers, advisors and gave them the following speech:
"Dear friends, the time has come for me to finish my business and retire. Also, now it is best to appoint a new CEO who will run our company in the future… I have decided that it will be one of you. ”
Young promising bosses were confused…
"I will give each of you a seed. It is a very special seed. I want you to plant and water it and get back together next year to see what you’ve done with it. Then I will decide who will be my successor. "
Jim was also present at that meeting, and like everyone present he was given a seed.
When he got home, he shared with his wife the director’s thinking and they decided to cultivate the seeds together from which the plant would sprout.
They found a nice jar, put fertilizer, took a thermometer, read a few books on plant care and lived in the rhythm of the news from the jar.
They watered the ground every day and waited impatiently for something to sprout.
After about 20 days, some of Jim’s colleagues had already started talking in the office about the plant growing. Jim and his wife also looked in the jar every day, but nothing happened. It’s been over a month and still nothing has happened. Plants were already widely discussed now.
At joint lunches, practical ideas about rapid growth were exchanged, and Jim realized that he was the only one with nothing and that he was the only one who had failed.
Not even six months later, nothing sprouted in Jim's jar.
He began to believe he had done something wrong. Maybe too much water or bad fertilizer or something else he couldn't explain. He knew he had done the best he could and he was sorry he was without results.
The year soon came to an end and the young bosses reunited with their plants around the CEO. Jim told his wife he would not carry an empty jar, but she still managed to persuade him to do so, telling him to tell him honestly what had happened. He felt nausea and insidious pain in his stomach.
This, he guessed, would be the most awkward moment of his life. Still, he knew she was right and he was firmly convinced that he had done nothing wrong. He brought his empty jar into the meeting room. He saw various plants, carefully cultivated, on the table. They were all beautiful, just, irresistibly appealing in their lushness.
He placed, with the ridicule of his friends, his empty jar on the floor. He was right. There were sad moments ahead of him.
When the CEO arrived, his gaze flew over all the plants and greeted the candidates. Jim tried to be as far away from him as possible so as not to meet his gaze.
"How nicely you nurtured them!" - the general director began. "I see that it will not be easy for me to find a successor…" And, at that moment, he saw an empty jar. He asked the vice president to bring it in and bring the owner forward. Jim shuddered.
"Now they will laugh at me loudly… Maybe they will kick me out of the company" - he thought.
When he stepped forward, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed? And Jim told him everything, honestly and fairly. The CEO asked everyone to sit down - except Jim. He looked at them and said:
"Jim, I'm very proud of you… Dear, Jim is the new CEO of the company!"
It seemed, almost, unreal to everyone, especially to Jim.
“So how is that possible? My jar is empty… ”, - he stammered confused.
The old CEO explained: “A year ago, I gave each of you a seed from which nothing can sprout. I gave you a dead seed, sterile. Each of you, when you saw that nothing was growing, decided to replace it with healthy seeds. Each of you - except Jim. You all brought me plants and flowers from your seed, not from mine. Only Jim proudly accepted the failure and had enough courage and honesty to bring me an empty jar. You were all looking for success - at all costs, and to Jim, his honesty was more important than success. That is why he is the CEO today… ”
Post je objavljen 15.08.2021. u 13:36 sati.