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
In the year 1792, Mahmoud Effendi, a Turkish archer, hit a mark with an
arrow at 482 yards. His bow, arrows, thumb-ring and groove are still on
exhibition in London as proof of the feat. His prowess lay in his native
gift, trained by years of practice, to guess the power of his bow, the
weight and balance of his arrow, and the range and direction of his
target; also, the sweep of the wind. This he gained by observations
repeated until the information gathered from them amounted to almost exact
knowledge. Thousands of gunners to-day hit a mark miles away, with a
16-inch gun, not because they are good guessers, but because, by means of
science, they determine accurately all of the factors entering into the
flight of their projectiles. Pericles judged men by a shrewd guess--the
kind of guess called intuition. But such intuition is only a native gift
of keen observation, backed by good judgment, and trained by shrewd study
of large numbers of men until it becomes instinctively accurate.
In modern times we are learning not to depend upon mere guesses--no matter
how shrewd. Mahmoud Effendi could not pass on to others the art he had
acquired. But the science of gunnery can be taught to any man of average
intelligence and natural aptitudes. Pericles left posterity not one hint
about how to judge men--how to recognize ability. Humanity needs a
scientific method of judging men, so that any man of intelligence can
discover genius--or just native ability--in himself and others.
As the result of our ignorance, great possibilities lie undeveloped in
nearly all men. Self-expression is smothered in uncongenial toil. Parents
and teachers, groping in the dark, have long been training natural-born
artists to become mechanics, natural-born business men to become
musicians, and boys and girls with great aptitudes for agriculture and
horticulture to become college professors, lawyers, and doctors. Splendid
human talent, amounting in some cases to positive genius, is worse than
wasted as a result.
In our experience, covering years of careful investigation and the
examination of many thousands of individuals, we have seen so much of the
tragedy of the misfit that it seems at times almost universal. The records
of one thousand persons taken at random from our files show that 763, or
76.3 per cent, felt that they were in the wrong vocations. Of these 414
were thirty-five years old or older. Most of these, when questioned as to
why they had entered upon vocations for which they had so little natural
aptitude, stated that they had either drifted along lines of least
resistance or had been badly advised by parents, teachers, or employers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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