Part 10

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 institution 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 classes, 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 classes, 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.