**The Three Envelopes**

A manager was hired into a position, and he met the previous manager who was on the way out the door. The new manager stopped the previous manager and asked if there was any advice for the position. The previous manager said that there were 3 envelopes in the top desk drawer. The new manager should not open any of them unless they are having trouble in the position, and if needed, to open each one separately in the order marked on the envelope.

The new manager was doing well in the position at first, but after a while the honeymoon period wore off so the manager opened the first envelope. It said “Blame your predecessor”, so the manager did. That worked well for several months, but after a while the other workers became disappointed in the managers performance. So then the manager opened the second letter, and it said “Reorganize”, so the manager did. Everything was working fine for a while bur people eventually started to complain that things were no better than before. So the manager opened the third letter and it said “Prepare 3 envelopes”.