Analyzing Character: The New Science of Judging Men; Misfits in Business, the Home and Social LifeBlackford, Katherine M. H. (Katherine Melvina Huntsinger)
Science
Analyzing Character: The New Science of Judging Men; Misfits in Business, the Home and Social Life
Blackford, Katherine M. H. (Katherine Melvina Huntsinger)
Characters and characteristics; Success
"You are sitting now in your office--six clerks are within call. Summon
any one of them and make this request: 'Please look in the encyclopedia
and make a brief memorandum for me concerning the life of Correggio.'
"Will the clerk quietly say, 'Yes, sir,' and go do the task?
"On your life, he will not. He will look at you out of a fishy eye and ask
one or more of the following questions:
"'Who was he?'
"'Which encyclopedia?'
"'Where is the encyclopedia?'
"'Was I hired for that?'
"'Don't you mean Bismarck?'
"'What's the matter with Charlie doing it?'
"'Is he dead?'
"'Is there any hurry?'
"'Shan't I bring you the book and let you look it up yourself?'
"'What do you want to know for?'
"And I will lay you ten to one that after you have answered the questions,
and explained why you want it, the clerk will go off and get one of the
other clerks to help him try to find Garcia--and then come back and tell
you there is no such man. Of course, I may lose my bet, but, according to
the Law of Average, I will not."
Now, there are many executives so constituted that they are not only
willing, but glad, to explain the why and the wherefore of the orders they
give. When they give the order, they are oftentimes willing to listen to
suggestions, and oftentimes to adopt them. These are men of the
deliberate, calm, reflective, rather mild type, with only a moderate
development of the crown of the head which shows a love of authority.
Oftentimes, also, they are men of the erratic, impulsive type who realize
their impulsiveness and are rather glad than otherwise to be picked up by
queries and suggestions from their subordinates. But for the man of the
positive, incisive, decided, domineering type these questions and
suggestions, this attitude which proposes that something else ought to be
done, or that the thing ought to be done in "some other way," are
exasperating in the extreme. Since this is the usual type of man to be
found in industrial business, it is not strange that so many employees,
perhaps efficient enough otherwise, fail to give satisfaction. It is
because they seemingly cannot overcome their itch to do the thing "some
other way." There is the best of all psychological reasons why every
employee should read and take to heart Elbert Hubband's "Message to
Garcia."
Over and over again, young men and young women have come to us saying: "I
wish you would tell me why I cannot hold a position. I know I do the work
well enough, but, somehow or other, I seem to be unfortunate. I have
trouble with everyone I work for and cannot remain in any one position for
very long." In practically every case the trouble has been that the young
man or the young woman did not understand the simple principles of human
nature.
HOW TO TAKE DISCIPLINE
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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