A successful business man 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 called all the young executives in his company together. 'It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO,' he said. 'I have decided to choose one of you.'

The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. 'I am going to give each one of you a seed today - a very special seed. 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 one I choose will be the next CEO.'

One man, named Henry, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed.

Every day, he would water it and watch 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. Henry 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 Henry didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by - still nothing in Henry's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Henry didn't say anything to his colleagues, however. He just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - he so wanted the seed to grow..

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection. Henry told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened˜

Henry felt sick at 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 board room. When Henry arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful--in all shapes and sizes. Henry put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed. A few felt sorry for him!

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives.

Henry just tried to hide in the back.

'My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown,' said the CEO.

'Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!'

All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Henry at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the financial director to bring him to the front.

Henry was terrified. He thought, 'The CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!'

When Henry got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed.

Henry told him the story.

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Henry. He looked at Henry, and then announced to the young executives, 'Here is your next Chief Executive! His name is Henry !!!!!

Henry couldn't believe it. Henry couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new CEO the others said?

Then the CEO said, '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.

All of you, except Henry, have brought me trees and plants and flowers.

'When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Henry was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive!'

Moral:

If you plant honesty, you will reap trust

If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.

If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.

If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment

If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective.

If you plant hard work, you will reap success.

If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.

So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later.

Donkey started looking for job rotation. With a certificate of star performer and list of job responsibilities that he had handled, the new employer was thoroughly impressed; he decided to hire the donkey at double the salary of what he was getting earlier. Now the donkey was very happy as he got a good reward for his hard work.

Moral of the story: Work like a donkey (do all the work and take more responsibilities), if your boss won't reward it, somebody else will.

Disclaimer:
All characters in the story are not at all imaginary. Any resemblance to person living or dying of work is purely intentional

-------- Nasikh

zindagii jiine ko dii, jii mai.n ne
qismat me.n likhaa thaa pii to pii mai.n ne
mai.n na piitaa to teraa likhaa Galat ho jaataa
tere likhe ko nibhaayaa kyaa Khataa kii mai.n ne
-------------Saeed Rahi]

I have read thousands of shers in my life but I have yet to read a better shers than this.Long time back,I read in a magazine :----

Kuchh aur tarasho apne kad ko tum ;

Bahut neechi yahan oonchaiyaan Hain.

meri khamoshiyon mein bhi fasana dhoondh leti hai
badi shatir hai ye duniya bahana dhoondh leti hai

hakeekat zid kiye baithi hai chaknachur karne ko
magar har aankh phir sapna suhana dhoondh leti hai

uthaati hai jo khatara har kadam par doob jaane ka
wahi koshish samundar mein khajana dhoondh leti hai

na chidiya ki kamai hai na karobar hai koi
wo keval haunsle se aabodana dhoondh leti hai

junoon manjil ka rahon mein bachata hai bhatakne se
meri deewangi apna thikana dhoondh leti hai

-----------Rajendra Tiwari

Letter is from Banta Singh of Punjab to Mr. Bill Gates of Microsoft

Subject: Problems with my new computer

Dear Mr. Bill Gates,

We have bought a computer for our home and we have found some problems, which I want to bring to your notice.

1. There is a button 'start' but there is no "stop" button. We request you to check this.

2. We find there is 'Run' in the menu. One of my friends clicked 'run ' he ran up to Amritsar! So, we request you to change that to "sit", so that we can click that by sitting.

3. One doubt is whether any 're-scooter' is available in system? I find only 're-cycle', but I own a scooter at my home.

4. There is 'Find' button but it is not working properly. My wife lost the door key and we tried a lot trace the key with this ' find' button, but was unable to trace. Please rectify this problem.

5. My child learnt 'Microsoft word' now he wants to learn 'Microsoft sentence', so when you will provide that?

6. I brought computer, CPU, mouse and keyboard, but there is only one icon which shows 'MY Computer': when you will provide the remaining items?

7. It is surprising that windows say 'MY Pictures' but there is not even a single photo of mine. So when will you keep my photo in that.

8. There is 'MICROSOFT OFFICE' what about 'MICROSOFT HOME' since I use the PC at home only.
9. You provided "My Recent Documents". When you will provide "My Past Documents"?
10. You provide "My Network Places". For God shake please do not provide "My Secret Places". I do not want to let my wife know where I go after my office hours.
Regards,
Banta

Last one to Mr. Bill Gates:

Sir, how is it that your name is Gates but u are selling WINDOWS?

Banta

Question to Mr. Kalam:

Could you give an example, from your own experience, of how leaders should manage failure?

Mr. Kalam:

Let me tell you about my experience. In 1973 I became the project director of India 's satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India 's "Rohini" satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources -- but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space. Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal.

By 1979 -- I think the month was August -- we thought we were ready. As the project director, I went to the control center for the launch. At four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist of items that needed to be checked. One minute later, the computer program put the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order. My experts -- I had four or five of them with me -- told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to
manual mode, and launched the rocket. In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, a problem developed. Instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal .
It was a big failure.

That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference. The launch was at 7:00 am, and the press conference -- where journalists from around the world were
present -- was at 7:45 am at ISRO's satellite launch range in Sriharikota [in Andhra Pradesh in southern India ]. Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself. He took responsibility for the failure -- he said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support. He assured the media
that in another year, the team would definitely succeed. Now, I was the project director, and it was my failure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization.

The next year, in July 1980, we tried again to launch the satellite and this time we succeeded. The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference. Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, "You conduct
the press conference today."

I learned a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team. The best management lesson I have learned did not come to
me from reading a book; it came from that experience.

One intersting point. Do not you find that the following Sher of "Daag"deals with Photometry?

Rukhe Roshan ke Aage Shamaa Rakh Kar Yeh Kahate Hain.

Udhar Jata Hai Dekhen , ya Idhar Parwana Aata Hai.