The talking machine world (July-Dec 1924)

38 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD September 15, 1924 Initiative Is Needed for Business Success Braid White Points to the Importance of Initiative in Developing Greater Selling Efficiency and a Successful Business It may be the merest old fogyism, but one is sometimes much tempted to believe that the youths of the day have less initiative than those had twenty years ago who are now their fathers. Whether it is that the conditions of life are so absurdly easy to-day, whether it is that the spread of material prosperity has been so extraordinarily wide during recent years, the fact remains that the young man and woman of the hour seem to take life very easily; in fact, almost too easily. Now, I am not one of those who believe that constant "hustle" is the only thing worth having in life. On the contrary, the mere fact that the American people have learned more or less how to play as well as work during the last two decades seems to me to be one of the best signs that the world is getting better and not worse as time goes on. No, the point I wish to make is that, for some reason or other, the youth of to-day has not the creative spirit. Analogies from the realms of art, literature and even physical science can doubtless be drawn to support this thesis, but it is sufficient for the present purpose to talk about the matter in its business aspect, and especially with respect to salesmanship. Riches by Mail There never was a "time when more money and labor were being expended on the art of salesmanship than are being expended now; but this only proves that there is much need for a better sort of salesmanship and for a lot more of it. Certainly there is no proof that there are more good salesmen, although there is a great deal of evidence to show that persons not entirely scrupulous have discovered that every American youth believes that the salesman is the most fortunate of persons and holds down the most fortunate of jobs. If this were not so there would surely be fewer schools for teaching by mail in twenty-four lessons the art of salesmanship and of accumulating a fortune. It is then not so much that young men dislike salesmanship as it is that they try to become salesmen without learning the game properly from the ground upwards, to which .one must object. The man who possesses that precious mental quality called "initiative" is precisely the man who does not expect to become a high-grade salesman overnight, because his possession of that quality enables him to see that he himself must create his own circumstances and make his own job in whatever activity he occupies himself. The man who does not see this has no initiative, and is the man who supposes that by swallowing (after paying for) some formulas and catchwords he can, in some mysterious fashion, blossom out as an expert in a game which its biggest players declare to constitute the study of a whole lifetime. There is no royal road to salesmanship, then, but there is one possible, practical road. That is the road which leads through the valley of initiative. A man who possesses this quality may be perfectly ignorant of a given line of business, or of a given product, but yet will become an expert with surprising rapidity in that line or product, because his own creative faculty will drive him to master the problem set before him and then, when he has mastered it, will show him original, individual ways of approaching it, so that he may come in due course to distinguish himself above his fellows by his ability to crack all the hardest nuts and solve all the hardest sales puzzles. What Is Initiative? What, then, is initiative? It is almost as hard to define in words as is that other rare quality, tact. One remembers that the best definition of tact ever given was by way of being a parable. A butler, it was said, entering a bathroom, found inside a lady bathing. He at once withdrew, saying loudly, "I beg your pardon, Sir." That is really a good example of the use of that faculty called tact, which might perhaps be roughly defined as the ability to say and do always the exactly right thing at exactly the right time in all conditions of human intercourse. Initiative meanwhile is no easier to define with any exactness, but perhaps one might say that it is that mental faculty which FELT Justifying Your Confidence WHEN a talking machine manufacturer specifies American Felt Company's felts, it is an expression of confidence in us. We are conscious of this faith and so we produce the finest felt that the most modern equipment and the most highlyskilled craftsmen can create. All the resources and facilities of this organization are available through our branch offices. AMERICAN FELT COMPANY 211 Congress St., Boston 114 E. 13th Street, New York City 325 So. Market Street, Chicago leads a man or woman to perceive and to do the best thing in circumstances where that thing is not immediately obvious. It is the quality of initiative that tells a motorist in a tight place just how to take advantage of the circumstances and to escape triumphantly from what some one else would allow to drift into a smashup. It is initiative which enables a salesman to devise, upon the spur of the moment, the appropriate answer to an unexpected question, or the right approach upon an unexpected rencontre with some person or circumstance not mentioned in the books. Any one can see a train of circumstances, but it is initiative which makes a man see what should or might flow from those circumstances. These Had It Many men had meditated upon the fall of bodies, but only Newton was able to grasp the fact that these phenomena are all small representations of an universal law. Millions of men had watched the steam from a tea-kettle force up the lid, but this demonstration of expansive power went unheeded till James Watt suddenly saw that here was the solution of the problem of utilizing steam as a power to do work. The motor car had appealed to thousands before Henry Ford perceived the fact that a revolution in the whole condition of life would come about when a standardized vehicle at a low price had been built, and proceeded to build it. The quality of initiative alone kept up the spirits of men like Edison, Taintor, Bell, Berliner in the early days of talking machine development; for each of these men saw in his mind's eye that a certain condition of things was possible, and from that mental picture produced by their possession of the quality of initiating ideas came the courage which sustained them till their work had been done. Initiative brought Marshall Field to Chicago and initiative showed him how to conquer. Initiative made Patrick J. Healy the head of the great music house which is almost synonymous with the name of Chicago. Each of these men was always willing to dare, because he had seen his problem clearly and knew that he was right. Why Not To-day? It really does seem, however, that our young fellows to-day possess not quite so much of this desirable quality as their fathers did. Perhaps, as I said before, life is too easy. Perhaps those very inventions which were produced by initiative have destroyed, by their abundance, the quality that produced them. Life is very easy and very luxurious. Young men are brought up in luxury and they come to believe that wealth is to be gained by devious methods and rapid ways. They dream of "deals" when the>r ought to be at work. However that may be, the old rule is as good to-day as it was a thousand years ago. The prizes of life go to him who has the ability to initiate new ideas and to dare to put those ideas into practice. The mentally lazy man can never make a success, though he starts with ever so much money. Whatever and whoever he be, the man who would build business must possess that initiatory quality, that ability to think, to see, to do, independently. The young American has always in the past prided himself on his independence and his ability to make good. The knowledge that life would not be too easy otherwise has always helped. To-day we need to talk a little less about "deals" and a little more about careers, less about "easy money" and more about good, hard, honest work, less about ourselves and more about how little we know, less about •beating the game" and more about playing it; less about imitating and more about creating.