PROMOTION

Noting that a business acquaintance who seemed to have only average abilities had moved up rapidly in his company to become a vice president, I asked him his secret to success. He told me that it was quite simple.

"Not long after I started my first job, I got the name of an excellent executive recruiter. I gave my boss's name to the recruiter, who lured him away from our firm, and I assumed his vacated position. I've been doing the same thing with every boss since then," he said. 

Reader's Digest, October 1981.

After President Calvin Coolidge issued his famous "I do not choose to run" statement, he was besieged by reporters seeking a more detailed statement. One, more persistent than his fellows, badgered Mr. Coolidge. "Exactly why don't you want to be President again?" he asked.

Coolidge looked him squarely in the eye. "Because," he replied, "there's no chance for advancement." 

Bits & Pieces, June 25, 1992.

When Robert Kennedy was Attorney General he was reported to greet new young lawyers entering the Department with the following message: "This may appear to be a large organization, but when you do something well, I will hear about it and it will go on your record. I want you to recall that I was recently a lowly worker in the Justice Department myself but that I now serve as Attorney General, due to perseverance, long hours, hard work, and the fact that my brother became President of the United States...not necessarily in that order.

Source Unknown.