The Boss
By the boss we mean the active proprietor, the executive head, the owner of the business. He is sometimes called the "old man."
The success of an inst.i.tution depends largely upon the example set by the boss.
If the boss is careless in little things, if he is sharp in his practice, if he does mean acts, he may rely upon it his employes will copy him, and later on, when some blow strikes the business, he will find it has happened through the practices of the employes who got their cues from the boss.
Kindness wins kindness; love wins love. If the boss is generous and charitable, if he sets a good example, he will have an esprit de corps among his employes that is of incalculable value.
There is not one chance in a thousand for the boss to make a success unless he has risen to the position of boss, and climbed and earned his position through steady progress.
The boss must know how to do the things he hires others to do.
The boss who can show an employe his error in a kindly manner and point out a better method, leaves a good feeling in the heart of that employe.
The boss who shows his heart to the employe and is concerned in the things not necessarily business will be repaid a thousand-fold in loyalty and willingness on the part of the employe.
Employes deeply appreciate consideration, and especially the little kindnesses which are not what might be called business practice.
The boss should not be too far aloof; he should be just head and shoulders above those working under him; he should be just far enough above that he stands out as a commander.
He should be willing to grant an audience to an employe and should work with him.
The boss should say we rather than I. He should talk with the employes and not down to them. He should make each individual under him feel that he is part of the inst.i.tution and an element in its success.
Remember this--employes watch the boss and they copy him. Where you find hard working employes you will find a hard working boss.
The boss cannot run the whole business himself; he is dependent upon willing hands, and, in order to get willing hands, he must have willing hands himself.
If the boss is alert and discovers wastes and leaks in his business, the employes will discover them too, and the business will receive double benefit.
Sizing Up Things
One of the most necessary as well as beneficial practices a man can have is to take fifteen minutes to an hour each day and devote the time to sizing up things, to planning the day"s work for the morrow, to threshing the wheat from the chaff, to reviewing the accomplishments of the day.
Sizing up things can only be well done in solitude.
The benefits of sizing up things in solitude are so great it is a wonder more has not been written on the subject.
Plants grow in darkness, yet the common understanding is they grow in sunshine. The sunshine is absolutely necessary for the growth of the plant, but the real growth is done in the quiet darkness.
A man"s brain develops in solitude, yet bustle and crowds and business activity are as necessary to the man as sunshine is to the plant.
The real brain and moral growth takes place in solitude.
Here again we must remember the law of compensation, for if a plant had all sunshine and no shadow, and if a man had all hustle and bustle and no solitude, it would be like a machine without a governor; the man and the plant would run so fast something would have to give way.
On the other hand compensation says that if a man is too much in solitude, or the plant too much in darkness, they will wither and die.
Man has always had strong admiration for the strong individual, whether bird, beast, fish, plant or human.
There are two kinds of birds, the kind that lives in flocks, like the blackbird and the wild duck, and the kind that lives by itself, like the eagle. Amongst birds the eagle is chosen as an emblem for the flag, and never the duck or blackbird.
Amongst beasts there are two cla.s.ses, the herd kind like sheep, and the strong individual, like the lion. The lion is the symbol of strength and courage, the sheep the symbol of innocence and simplicity. The lion appears on coat of arms but not the sheep.
In the fish family there are two cla.s.ses, the kind that lives in schools, like the mackerel, and the kind that lives by itself, like the whale.
When first the savage drew a rude picture of a fish on his hut it was a whale, and not a mackerel.
We do not find the mackerel"s picture excepting at the fish dealers and on the menu, and then only because the mackerel is good to eat.
Among trees the one that attains great proportions and beautiful symmetry is yonder giant oak or elm that grows in the open. It needs room to breathe and grow. It grows better if it is segregated from the crowded forest. The giant tree is not the one that grows in the dense forest.
There are two kinds of men, the kind that lives in the herd and the kind that has strong individuality that needs room to grow. The herd man exists in infinitely greater numbers than the individual man.
We cannot imagine Lincoln, Bismarck, Webster, Clay, Edison or Burbank living in the herd, or spending their time in the boulevard cafes.
The man who lives in a herd, who is ever present where the lights are bright, where gaiety abounds, where excitement reigns, where feasting is present, soon gets himself into the habit of cultivating this excitement. He is never happy when alone.
The brain never sleeps and something must occupy it. The herd man fills his brain with frivolous things, he seeks constant excitement. He is like the plant always in the sun, he burns himself out.
The great man with the individuality is great because he has always spent plenty of tune by himself, sizing up things in solitude. Sizing up things makes the brain grow and makes it stronger.
The universities of this country tend in a great measure to produce the herd man. The students dress alike. All have the same mannerisms, all have the same tilt to their hats, and all the same turned up trousers.
They feed at certain restaurants and crowd in flocks. Very few college men learn the benefits of sizing up things in solitude until in after years.
On the other hand the student in the school of practical experience does not copy his fellow students. That is why in this great practical experience school we find Lincolns, Edisons, Jim Hills and Carnegies.
Those men have to wrestle with the problems for themselves. They had to size up things in solitude instead of reading the sizing up from text books, as is done in the regular university.
Every man before retiring at night, or even during the day, should take a few minutes to himself and carefully a.n.a.lyze the doings of the day.
He should weigh the positive and negative acts, the good and the bad, the wise and the foolish, the right and the wrong impulses, the gain and loss in achievement. He should strike a balance, and if he sees that the bad, deterrent and backward things in the lead he should resolve to get a move on himself.
The man who goes along without this sizing up things in solitude is like the merchant who keeps no record, who pays his bills from the cash drawer and takes what is left for profit. He will still be running a little shop in twenty years, while his compet.i.tor who sized things up each day will be in the wholesale business or will have retired with a competency.
Try this sizing up things for two weeks, and the benefits you will receive will be so manifest it will need no further suggestion to make you keep up the practice.
Compet.i.tion
The saying is "compet.i.tion is the life of trade," and this saying is true, or it would not have endured so long.