What are you worth to the team?

I received this in a forwarded email a number of years ago. It came from the University of Calgary Dinosaur Basketball Program. It has a profound message: always do more than is expected of you, that way you will have the law of attraction on your side.

The Law of Attraction states that whatever you give, without the expectation of receiving anything back in return, will come back to you ten-fold. It is as universal as the Law of Gravity—it does not matter if you believe in the Law of Gravity or not, when you step of a fifty-foot cliff on the edge of the sea, you will fall into the sea.

A father had three sons, and they all worked for the same man, a dealer in furs. One day the father went down to talk to the President of the Fur Company, Jim Watson, an old boyhood friend. He went into the office and said: “Jim, my three boys all work for you and I appreciate you giving them positions in your company. I have a question that is bothering me. You pay one of them $800 a month, the second one $1,000 a month, and the last one $1,700 a month. Why?

The President leaned back in his chair and was silent for a few moments. Then his face brightened as he answered, “Well maybe I can show you why right this minute. Can you stay here for a while?”

“I can stay all day,” the father said.

“Well you just might have to stay all day. Make yourself at home.”

He picked up the telephone and called one of the boys, the $800 boy. He said, “I understand the Ontario has just docked at the wharf, loaded with furs. Please go down there and see what cargo she is carrying, and let me know.” About three minutes later the President’s telephone rang and the young fellow said. “I did not even have to go down there to get the information. I telephoned down. They have fifteen hundred seal pelts.” The President said, “Thank-you.”

He buzzed the next boy, the $1,000 boy, and said, “The Ontario has just docked. Will you please go down and see what she has on board and let me know at your earliest convenience.” About an hour later the telephone rang and the second boy said: “I just went down and checked the Ontario. She’s got fifteen hundred seal pelts on board.”

He rang the third boy, the 1,700 boy. He said: “The Ontario has just docked. Will you please go down and see what she has on board and let me know at your earliest convenience.” The same story and the same request he made of the other two boys. The $1,700 boy came back four hours later and came right on into the Presidents’ office. He said: “Well, she had fifteen hundred seal pelts on board and all are in good shape. I bought them for five dollars apiece, and filled that order we had from one of our customers. He bought all of them from us for seven dollars apiece. The Ontario also had five hundred red fox pelts. Of course, we do not handle red fox, but I knew who wanted them, so I called him long distance and made a sale. The deal will net us about $4,000. There were also thirty-nine mink pelts on board. I went in and examined them. They are beautiful, they are the finest. Since you always like to handle the mink trade yourself, I took an option on them for an hour so I could report to you.”

The President said, “Thank-you,” and the young man left. Jim asked the father: “Is your question answered?”

“Yes replied the father, “one of the boys did not even obey you, the other went only halfway, but the third one gave you everything he had.”

Published on July 11th, 2012