THREE ENVELOPES

Every job has a shelf life. Some will end with retirement, while most will end for other reasons. Regardless, they will all end.

I left my successor three envelopes with simple instructions on the face of each. The first read, “Open this envelope after you make your first big mistake.” After about a month, my friend made a mistake worthy of opening the first envelope. She called me laughing at the message I had written inside. It read, “You just hit a speed bump. It happens. It doesn’t really matter what happened or the circumstances. Blame it on me. It doesn’t matter. I’m gone and plenty of people are happy about it. Nobody will question you this time.” It worked!

Before the end of the first semester, I received another call from her. Again, she was “belly” laughing. She opened the second envelope after a minor blunder. My message to her read, “There is power in taking full responsibility for whatever you did. Apologize! It will go away.”

The third call came near the end of her first year. The reaction was priceless. The final message said, “You blamed the first one on me. You apologized for the second. Get three envelopes and start writing messages to your successor…”

She kept the letters to this day. They are a reminder of how things work. You are loved the most the day you are hired. Whoever selects you will have to call you an upgrade over the person before you. It’s the way it works. For that reason, the free pass is real. Apologies will get you through many mistakes the first time.  They want you to be successful and will accept the apology. Finally, there is a point in time when you own it all!