Ezra and Thomas joined a company together a few months after
their graduation from university.
After a few years of work, their Manager promoted Ezra to a
position of Senior Sales Manager, but Thomas remained in his entry level Junior
Sales Officer position. Thomas developed a sense of jealousy and
disgruntlement, but continued working anyway.
One day Thomas felt that he could not work with Ezra
anymore. He wrote his resignation letter, but before he submitted it to the
Manager, he complained that
Management did not value hard
working staff, but promoted only the
favoured!
The Manager knew that Ezra worked very hard for the years he
had spent at the company; even harder than Thomas and therefore he deserved the
promotion. So in order to help Thomas to realize this, the Manager gave Thomas
a task.
“Go and find out if anyone is selling water melons in town?”
Thomas returned and said, "yes there is someone!"
The Manager asked, "how much per kg?" Thomas drove
back to town to ask and then returned to inform the Manager; "they are
$13.50 per kg!"
The Manager told Thomas, "I will give Ezra the same
task that I gave you. Please pay close attention to his response!"
So the Manager said to Ezra, in the presence of Thomas; “Go
and find out if anyone is selling water melons in town?”
Ezra went to find out and on his return he said:
"Manager, there is only one person selling water melons
in the whole town. The cost is $49.00 each water melon and $32,50 for a half
melon. He sells them at $13.50 per kg when sliced. He has in his stock 93
melons, each one weighing about 7kg. He has a farm and can supply us with
melons for the next 4 months at a rate of 102 melons per day at $27.00 per
melon; this includes delivery.
The melons appear fresh and red with good quality, and they
taste better than the ones we sold last year.
He has his own slicing machine and is willing to slice for
us free of charge.
We need to strike a deal with him before 10 am tomorrow and
we will be sure of beating last year's profits in melons by $223, 000.00. This
will contribute positively to our overall performance as it will add a minimum
of 3.78% to our current overall sales target.
I have put this information down in writing and is available
on spreadsheet. Please let me know if you need it as I can send it to you in
fifteen minutes."
Thomas was very impressed and realized the difference
between himself and Ezra. He decided not to resign but to learn from Ezra.
As the year is still fresh, let this story help us keep in
mind the importance of going an extra mile in all our endeavors.
You won't be rewarded for doing what you're meant to do, you
only get a salary for that! You're only rewarded for going an extra mile;
performing beyond expectations.
To be successful in life you must be observant, proactive
and willing to do more, think more, have a more holistic perspective and go
beyond the call of duty.
May you be blessed with a better perspective to your work
and/or business in 2018....
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