I ran across this old chestnut today and it amused me:
An incoming executive is replaced and the outgoing executive hands over three envelopes saying, “Open these one at a time when things get tough.”
A couple months go by, and things get tough, so the new executive opens the first envelope. It says, “Blame your predecessor.” The exec does, and it works like a charm.
A couple more months go by and things are getting tough again, so the executive opens the second envelope. It says, “Reorganize.” Again, the advice works like a charm.
A few months later, things get really bad, so the executive opens the third envelope. It says, “Prepare three envelopes.”
The point of this post? If you read “old chestnut” and knew what that meant, you are probably old.