The really energetic man is usually not a spend thrift, either with words or with deeds. He wants every word and every deed to count. He may look very easy and comfortable, but if you get in his path or try in any way to block hirn, his dynamic quality will startle you.
9. Selection of Chapter II of this N-olume I mentioned the building of an organiza tion as one of the difficulties that must be overcome by the man who would make a profit in business. This is a task for which the executive is primarily respon sible. The president of a large corporation does not usually hire all the employes, but he must pick out the right man to relieve him of that responsibility. He must, therefore, be a good judge of men.
Furthermore, since his organization must work as a unit, he must pick men who will work together in harmony. Three excellent men, if they have to work in the same room, may be comparatively useless to him because of radical differences in their temperaments or characters. An executive charged with the respon sibility of hiring employes will not produce the best results if he fails to take this fact into account. The world is full of racial and religious prejudices, and these an employer must not ignore, however much be may despise them.
As it is very important that the organization be kept loyal and enthusiastic, an executive must study the men under him, so that when a new position is to be filled he may promote an employe rather than go outside and bring a new man into the organization. Executives who pick their men carelessly or handle them stupidly, not seeking to make each employe feel contented and hopefully ambitious, cannot build a really efficient or loyal organization. In prosperous times their best men will desert them, and those employes who stick will be more concerned about the size of their salaries than about the quality of their work.
10. Methods of control.—In the Modern Business Text on "Factory and Office Administration" the reader will find descriptions in detail of various meth ods that have been adopted for the efficient handling of men. Here it is sufficient to point out the impor tance of this matter, and it seems worth while, for a good many business men have given little thought to it.
When you hire a man to work for you, you want the entire man, and you may think that 3,-ou get him when you offer him a salary which satisfies him. but you are mistaken. No man will give you himself and work for you as he would for himself, unless you some how make him feel that he is a vital and growing part of your business. Hence, if you wish to succeed as an executive and make your employes give you their best, you must manage them wisely.
Different ways have been discussed for keeping an organization up to par, but no one way can be called the best. The bonus system may work well in one shop, but be a failure in another. Rewards for un usually good work or for helpful suggestions have been found stimulating in many organizations. Edu cation or recreation clubs organized by the employes with the encouragement and active support of the em ployers, are also productive of good-will and effi ciency. Whatever the method be, it is most important that the executive make his employes feel, not merely that he is interested in their welfare, but that he is de termined that the merit of not a single one shall be overlooked.
11. "Born leaders."—The quality of leadership often appears in boys at such an early age that we speak of them as "born leaders." They dominate their comrades in all sports ; younger boys fear them and dare not disobey their orders. In almost every village school there is a little tyrant who is feared by all the other children. Often lie is vicious and has to be harshly disciplined by his teacher and his parents. Or lie may be a boy of fine disposition, loved as well as feared and respected by his playmates. In either ca,se he is the captain, and none of his mates questions his authority. If such a boy goes to college he instinc tively strives for leadership, but there he has greater competition than in the home school, and he may suc ceed in asserting his leadership over only a small group of college mates. Or Ile may captain a baseball nine or a football team, or become the bead of a secret so ciety or the president of his class.