PROMOTION : How to Secure it.—How to secure promotion ? Do just as much work as you possibly can. Take every interest in the business. Stand up steadfastly for your employer, even when you see younger men advanced over your head. To secure promotion you must constantly increase your employer's satisfaction by steadily developing higher ability, higher advance to larger salary and greater responsibility. This then is really success in business, and this, like success of any kind, is untaught and unteachable. There are, however, certain valuable hints to be gained by studying the career of men who have succeeded. Although the paths by which these men have won success are widely different, there are certain features which stand out prominently in all of them. The essentials for business success seem to be promptness, courtesy, loyalty and hard work. Promptness is the keynote of this modern age. Opportunity waits for no one, and the man who is always a little behind time is playing a losing game. Always on time, always producing results, is one of the highest tributes which can be paid a modern business man. Producing results is the first consideration, but this will avail little if you are not always there with them when wanted.
Business hours should he rigidly observed—no matter what they are. Five or ten minutes in the morning, trivial as it may be in itself, is a pretty sure indication of the degree of promptness which a man will show in more important matters. There is no investment more certain to pay a large dividend than courtesy. In the nerve-racking, endless rush of affairs there is nothing which leaves a stronger impression than a pleasant word or kind act, especially if it be something most men overlook. Business courtesy is largely a matter of habit, and is one of the habits we can afford to cultivate. In the army and navy, loyalty is an essential for success, and it is no less so in the business world. Enthusiasm and loyalty go hand in hand. A man cannot succeed unless he has an employer to whom he is loyal.
"There are many brighter men than he in our service, but he has stuck to us through thick and thin, and we appreciate it." The frequency with which this statement is given as the reason for success is significant. It shows that the man of the hour is the faithful man, the man who makes his employer's interests his own and whose loyalty never wavers. Associated more or less with all these requisites and overshadowing them all, is hard work. For this there is no substitute. You may be lacking in ability, in personality, or some other way, and still succeed, but if you have not the capacity for hard work you are doomed to failure. study the lives of great
men and you will see that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred their achieve ments are due to the possession of this capacity.
Do not be afraid to do 1)(2 worth of work for ,fl. The man who never does more than he is paid for seldom gets paid for any more than he does. The words "hard work" are nearer to holding the key to success than volumes of advice. Employers want men who combine with ambition and natural talent, honesty and the capacity for hard work. By honesty is meant something more than financial reliability. It is the quality which makes a man work without watching the clock or being afraid he will give his employer more value than he is being paid for. The honest employee brings to his work the best effbrts of which he is capable, and begrudgew nothing when the interests of his employer are at stake. The employees whose dishonesty is the most costly are those who would never take a penny from the cash-till, but by half-hearted efforts would rob their employers through thefts of time, and place their interests above those of the firm.
Every man who intends making himself of value to his employer, and to win the two go hand in hand despite all the pessimists may say—must have this capacity for hard work. No matter how great the amount of your ability, how thorough your education, or how attractive your personality, these qualities are as worthless as a locomotive without fuel unless they are backed up by persistency and energy. A man may be retained for a time because of his ability but in the long run he will be found wanting. Some clay his employer will he forced to give the position which he has hoped for, and which by his natural talent he is pre-eminently fitted to fill, to a man who, although less capable, has shown himself to be a worker.
Perseverance is a quality lacking in many men. Several of them can work hard and the road to success seems clear, but when difficulties threaten they lose their grip. Others work by spurts, keying themselves up to high pitches for brief periods and then lapsing into half-hearted eilOrt. Neither of these types is desirable. Employers want men who can be relied upon for even better efforts when the skies are dark than in times of prosperity, and who will be as persistent next year as they are to-day.
For the business man of to-clay there is no such thing as taking things easy. The higher he gets the more is expected of him, and the harder he must strive. The man who does not realise that continuous effort is as essential to a general manager as to an office boy will not be of permanent value.