Instead of choosing one of
his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called
all the young executives in his company together.
He said, "It is time
for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of
you. "The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. "I
am going to give each one of you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want
you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with
what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the
plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO."
One man, named Jim, was
there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and
excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost
and he planted the seed. Every day, he would water it and watch to see if it
had grown. After
about three weeks, some of
the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were
beginning to grow.
Jim kept checking his
seed, but nothing ever grew Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still
nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant
and he felt like a failure.
Six months went by --
still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else
had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his
colleagues, however, he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - he so
wanted the seed to grow.
A year finally went by and
all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for
inspection.
Jim told his wife that he
wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what
happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most
embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his
empty pot to the board room.
When Jim arrived, he was
amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were
beautiful - in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and
many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!
When the CEO arrived, he
surveyed the room and greeted his young executives.
Jim just tried to hide in
the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,"
said the CEO. "Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!"
All of a sudden, the CEO
spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the
Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought
"The CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!" When Jim
got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed, Jim told him
the story.
The CEO asked everyone to
sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young
executives, "Behold your next Chief Executive Officer!"
His name is
"Jim!" Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed.
"How could he be the
new CEO?" the others said. Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I
gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water
it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were
dead - it was not possible for them to grow.
All of you, except Jim,
have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed
would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was
the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it.
Therefore, he is the one
who will be the new Chief
Executive Officer!"
The
Moral of this story:
* If you plant honesty,
you will reap trust * If you plant goodness, you will reap friends
* If you plant humility,
you will reap greatness * If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment *
If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective * If you plant hard work,
you will reap success * If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.
So, be careful what you
plant now - it will determine what you will reap later.
Think about this for a
minute.
If I happened to show up
on your door step crying, would you care?
If I called you and asked
you to pick me up because something happened, would you come?
If I had one day left to
live my life, would you be part of that last day?
If I needed a shoulder to
cry on, would you give me yours?
This is a test to see who
your real friends are or if you are just someone to talk to you when they are
bored.
Your
aspiration is your motivation,
Your
motivation is your belief,
Your
belief is your peace,
Your
peace is your target,
Your
target is heaven, and life is like hard core,
Torture
without it!
