A repurposing of a joke from a book called "No Laughing Matter: A Collection of Political Jokes". In the original the protagonist is the manager of a collective farm, who fails to fulfill his quota and then suffers from a failed harvest. The theme is universal though.
When the CEO took office he found two letters in his desk. They were from his predecessor and with them was an instruction to keep them safe and open them when he got into difficulties.
Some years later the company failed to meet its sales targets, the CEO remembered the letters and opened the first one. It said:
Blame everything on me.
This advice proved successful, and for a while his position was secure. But then there was a problem with a major customer and the going got rough again. The CEO opened the second letter. It said:
Prepare two letters.
Posted by Alex at August 18, 2002 10:40 PM