Every new appointee to a post begins in non-existence. Whether obtained by newappointment, promotion or demotion.

He is normally under the delusion that now he is "THE .........." (new title). He tries to start off in power condition as he is usually very aware of his new status or even a former status. But in actual fact he is the only one aware of it. All others except perhaps the personnel officer are utterly unaware of him as having his new status.

Therefore he begins in a state of non-existence. And if he does not begin with the non-existence formula as his guide he will be using the wrong condition and will have all kinds of trouble.

The Non-Existence Formula is

1.Find a comm line

2.Make yourself known

3.Discover what is needed or wanted

4.Do, produce and/or present it.

A new appointee taking over a going concern often thinks he had better makehimself known by changing everything whereas he (a) is not well enough known to doso and (b) hasn't any idea of what is needed or wanted yet. And so he makes havoc.

Sometimes he assumes he knows what is needed or wanted when it is only a fixedidea with him and is only his idea and not true at all and so he fails at his job.

Sometimes he doesn't bother to find out what is really needed or wanted andsimply assumes it or thinks he knows when he doesn't. He soon becomes"unsuccessful".

Now and then a new appointee is so "status happy" or so insecure or so shy thateven when his boss or his staff comes to him and tells him what is needed or wanted hecan't or doesn't even acknowledge and really does go into non-existence for keeps.

Sometimes he finds that what he is told is needed or wanted needs reappraisal orfurther investigation. So it is always safest for him to make his own survey of it andoperate on it when he gets his own firm reality on what is needed or wanted.

If the formula is applied intelligently the person can expect to get into a zone ofby-pass where people are still doing his job to fill the hole his predecessor may haveleft. This is a Danger Condition — but it is the next one higher than non-existence on thescale. If he defends his job and does his job and applies the Danger Formula he willcome through it.

He can then expect to find himself in Emergency Condition. In this he mustfollow the Emergency Formula with his post and he will come through it. He can now expect to be in Normal Operation and if he follows the formula ofthat, he will come to Affluence. And if he follows that formula he will arrive at Power.And if he applies the Power Formula he will stay there.

So it is a long way from Power that one starts his new appointment and if hedoesn't go UP the scale from where he really is at the start, he will of course fail.

This applies to groups, to organizations, to countries as well as individuals.

It also applies when a person fails at his job. He has to start again at non-existenceand he will build up the same way condition by condition.

Most failures on post are occasioned by failures to follow the Conditions andrecognize them and apply the formula of the condition one is in when one is in it andcease to apply it when one is out of it and in another.

This is the secret of holding a post and being successful on a job or in life.

Here are the formulas of conditions given in order of advance upward:

1.Find a comm line

2.Make yourself known

3.Discover what is needed or wanted

4.Do, produce and/or present it.

1.By-pass (ignore the junior normally in charge of the activity, handle it personally).

2.Handle the situation and any danger in it.

3.Assign the area where it had to be handled a Danger Condition.

4.Handle the personnel by Ethics Investigation and Comm Ev.

5.Reorganize the activity so that the situation does not repeat.

6.Recommend any firm policy that will hereafter detect and/or prevent the condition from recurring.

The senior executive present acts and acts according to the formula above.

1.Promote, that applies to an organization. To an individual you had better sayproduce. That's the first action regardless of any other action, regardless ofanything else, why that is the first thing you have to put their attention on. Thefirst broad big action which you take is promote. Exactly what is promotion?Well, look it up in the dictionary. It is making things known; it is getting thingsout; it is getting one's self known, getting one's products out.

2.Change your operating basis. If for instance you went into a condition ofemergency and then you didn't change after you had promoted, you didn't makeany changes in your operation, well you just head for another condition ofemergency. So that has to be part of it, you had better change your operating basis, you hadbetter do something to change the operating basis, because that operating basislead you into an emergency so you sure better change it.

3.Economize.

4.Then prepare to deliver.

5.Part of the Condition of Emergency contains this little line — you have got tostiffen discipline or you have got to stiffen Ethics. Organizationally when a stateof emergency is assigned supposing the activity doesn't come out of thatemergency, regardless of what caused the emergency, supposing the activity justdoesn't come out of the emergency, in spite of the fact they have been labelled astate of emergency, they have been directed to follow the formula, they have beentold to snap and pop and get that thing straightened out, and they are still foundto be goofing, the statistic is going down and continues to go down, what do youdo? There is only one thing left to do and that is discipline because life itself isgoing to discipline the individual.

So the rule of the game is that if a state of emergency is ignored and the steps arenot taken successfully then you get an announcement after a while that thecondition has been continued and if the condition is continued beyond a specifiedtime, why that's it, it has to walk forward into an Ethics matter.

1.The way you maintain an increase is when you are in a state of Normal Operationyou don't change anything.

2.Ethics are very mild, the justice factor is quite mild, there are no savage actionstaken particularly.

3.A statistic betters then look it over carefully and find out what bettered it andthen do that without abandoning what you were doing before.

4.Every time a statistic worsens slightly, quickly find out why and remedy it.

And you just jockey those two factors, the statistic bettering, the statisticworsening, repair the statistic worsening, and you will find out inevitably some changehas been made in that area where a statistic worsens. Some change has been made, youhad better get that change off the lines in a hurry.

1.Economize. Now the first thing you must do in Affluence is economize and thenmake very very sure that you don't buy anything that has any future commitmentto it, don't buy anything with any future commitments, don't hire anybody withany future commitments — nothing. That is all part of that economy, clamp itdown.

2.Pay every bill. Get every bill that you can possibly scrape up from any place,every penny you owe anywhere under the sun, moon and stars and pay them.

3.Invest the remainder in service facilities, make it more possible to deliver.

1.The first law of a Condition of Power is don't disconnect. You can't just denyyour connections, what you have got to do is take ownership and responsibilityfor your connections.

2.The first thing you have got to do is make a record of all of its lines. And that isthe only way you will ever be able to disconnect. So on a Condition of Power thefirst thing you have to do is write up your whole post. You have made it possiblefor the next fellow in to assume the state of Power Change.

If you don't write up your whole post you are going to be stuck with a piece ofthat post since time immemorial and a year or so later somebody will still becoming to you asking you about that post which you occupied.

3.The responsibility is write the thing up and get it into the hands of the guy who isgoing to take care of it.

4.Do all you can to make the post occupiable.

There are only two circumstances which require replacement, the very successfulone or the very unsuccessful one.

What a song it is to inherit a successful pair of boots, there is nothing to it, juststep in the boots and don't bother to walk. If it was in a normal state ofoperation, which it normally would have been in for anybody to have beenpromoted out of it, you just don't change anything.

So anybody wants anything signed that your predecessor didn't sign, don't sign it.Keep your eyes open, learn the ropes and, depending on how big the organizationis, after a certain time, why see how it is running and run it as normal operatingcondition if it's not in anything but a normal operating condition.

Go through the exact same routine of every day that your predecessor wentthrough, sign nothing that he wouldn't sign, don't change a single order, lookthrough the papers that had been issued at that period of time — these are theorders that are extant and get as busy as the devil just enforcing those orders andyour operation will increase and increase.

Now the fellow who walks into the boots of somebody who has left in disgracehad better apply the state of emergency formula to it, which is immediatelypromote.

WISHING YOU SUCCESS.

Copyright © 1967by L. Ron HubbardALL RIGHTS RESERVED