Comments on: Prepare Three Envelopes Is Bad Advice

By: Levi

Levi — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 15:16:39 +0000

Basic math is correct – however it is not just a cautionary tale – what makes this even more humorous to insiders – this has played out many, many times is many different organizations, the person who left, was forced out because the org is so poorly ran, the leadership won’t take accountability, and thus the lower level leaders do the same. This is not just a story about a CEO who is at the top, this applies to all c level staff and others in leadership positions/managers. This behavior happens significantly in an organization.

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 08:58:33 +0000

I think you got the message entirely wrong. It was a blueprint of how not to deal with a problem.

By: Basic Mathematics

Basic Mathematics — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 11:58:57 +0000

In reply to Moraima Garcia.

You’ve completely missed the point of the story. It is a cautionary tale, it literally ends with them losing their job and the cycle repeating, nothing changing about the situation, just the people

It’s full of good advice.

1. Take responsibility, envelope 1. The easiest option is to proportion blame to someone who is not there. This does not fix the problem and makes it harder to acknowledge the issues at hand
2. You cannot reorganise your way out of a crisis, it’s a crisis, an abnormal situation. You’ve never been in a great situation here, so you’re attempting to, from the ground up, or with reference to a broken system, design a better way, with your test scenario as a crisis with unexpected difficulties.
3. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

And maybe, if you’re coming into a work environment because a spot opened because someone left under bad circumstances, you should consider those circumstances instead of assuming you can do it better.

It is perfect advice, it gives 3 or more morals in an easy to understand format that is also a fun story and anecdote which makes it memorable.

This is like saying that the story of Icarus is bad because it’s a poor set of instructions about how to fly.

By: Beware of Leopard Lessons - Manage By Walking Around

Beware of Leopard Lessons - Manage By Walking Around — Sun, 25 Oct 2020 22:39:06 +0000

[…] Prepare Three Envelopes Is Bad AdviceOctober 4, 2020 […]

By: Moraima Garcia

Moraima Garcia — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 16:07:58 +0000

These “envelopes” keep being handed down and opened in so many organizations. I think the boss receiving the updates should also be held accountable for letting the new leader use this formula. He might be also using the envelope strategy with his own boss. At the end we go back to culture (as always) how does the company enforce a culture of real leadership. Thanks for the story and the advice.

By: John Hack

John Hack — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 13:27:25 +0000

The moral of the story: If you take the approach recommended by the first two envelopes, you will certainly need to take the advice of the third. That so many leaders do so knowing how the story ends makes it “funny” (sad funny).