A successful businessman was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He brought all the young executives in his company together and said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO and I have decided that it will be one of you." The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to give each of you a seed today - a very special one. 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 person whose plant I choose will be the next CEO" A man named Jim was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. When he got home, he excitedly told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil, and compost for the seed and he planted it. Every day he would water it and check 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 from them. 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 badly wanted to see the seed 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 boardroom. 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 and felt sorry for him. When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. Jim tried his best to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown," he said. "Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!" All of a sudden, he spotted Jim at the back of the room with an 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. 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 him, and then announced to the young executives, "Behold your next Chief Executive Officer! His name is Jim." Jim couldn't believe it. He couldn't even grow his seed! "How could he be the new CEO?" the others asked. The CEO replied, "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.”
