The four envelopes

A good friend of mine told me a story today about a friend of his that used to be the CEO of a very large company in a lot of trouble.

The first day at his new job, his friend had the privilege of meeting the exiting CEO.  "I know you are leaving this company" he said " under a set of most unpleasant circumstances, but is there any insight you can give me on how to succeed here?".

The exiting CEO opened his drawer.  "Here are four envelopes" he said.  "They are numbered. Open them only when you are completely at a loss and need some guidance."  "It would not matter if I told you any of this now right. You need to be in the heat of the battle for any of this advice to make any sense.".

The new CEO was very thankful. Both men parted ways never to meet again.  This job was very challenging and in the whirlwind of activity that followed, he forgot about this conversation.

One day, the pressure from the Board to improve results got so high that he recalled the envelopes.
He opened the first one:

BLAME THE PREVIOUS MANAGEMENT TEAM!

Brilliant! he thought.  He was able to regain control and keep the Board at bay for a while.

Nevertheless, the stock market was not very impressed by earnings, margins and future outlook. He found himself in trouble with the Board again after being ridiculed by Jim Cramer on CNBC.

Sell, sell, sell.

Given how useful the first envelop was, he opened the second one:

REORGANIZE!

Smashing!  My friend's friend embarked in the boldest reorganization his company ever had.  Wall Street seemed to be pleased by the changes and the new corporate mission.  His company was on the right track yet again.

A couple of years went by and things started to go south.  The growth he had been able to achieve was eroding. Profits were tanking. Out of desperation, he opened the third envelope:

DOWNSIZE AND OUTSOURCE!

And so he did.  Life was good for a while.  The immediate results were outstanding.  A few quarters later, well, you know, things started to look iffy yet again.  This time, our heroic CEO was truly wondering about things.  These envelopes had been like the genie in the lamp for him.  He hesitated several weeks before he finally found the resolve to open the last one.

WRITE UP THE FOUR ENVELOPES FOR THE NEXT GUY!