Analyzing Character by Arthur Newcomb (best ereader for epub .txt) 📕

Nyall was efficient—unusually efficient—but he did not give satisfaction with the White Rapids Motor Company. Perhaps we do not need to point to the moral of this tale. If Nyall had understood his superior and had conducted himself accordingly, he might himself have been president and general manager of the White Rapids Motor Company to-day. He would have known that Burton was not a man to be brow-beaten, not a man to be defied, not a man to be proven in the wrong. With a little tact and diplomacy, he could have effected all of the changes he wished without even the semblance of a clash with his chief. He might even have insisted upon the first ones he advocated without serious trouble if he had done it in the right way and if he had not permitted his feeling of personal triumph to show itself so plainly.

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

In the first place, if he had known Burton as he should, he would have gone to him before making any changes and said: "Mr. Burton, I understand that you have given a great deal of time and thought to the routing of work through the factories; that you have personally directed the building up of the present system. I usually begin my work by studying the routing, but if you feel satisfied with this routing, as a result of your study; and experience, I will devote my time to something else." Approached in this way, Burton would unquestionably have directed the new works manager to make a complete study of the routing system and to suggest any possible improvements.

This story is typical of many others which we have observed more or less in detail. Nyall was a great success in the Swift Motor Company because the chief executive of that company was a little mild, good-natured, easy-going fellow, who not only needed the spur and stimulus of a positive nature like Nyall's, but was quite frankly delighted with it. If Nyall had approached him with questions and suggestions and a spirit of constant bowing to his authority, he would have been as exasperated in his own quiet way as Burton was with the opposite treatment. His constant injunction to his subordinates was: "Do not come to me with details. Use your own judgment and initiative. Go ahead. Do it in your own way. I hold you responsible only for results."

ALWAYS "SOME OTHER WAY"

In his "Message to Garcia," Elbert Hubbard has the following to say:

"You, reader, put this matter to a test:

"You are sitting now in your office—six clerks are within call. Summon any one of them and make this request: 'Please look in the encyclopedia and make a brief memorandum for me concerning the life of Correggio.'

"Will the clerk quietly say, 'Yes, sir,' and go do the task?

"On your life, he will not. He will look at you out of a fishy eye and ask one or more of the following questions:

"'Who was he?'

"'Which encyclopedia?'

"'Where is the encyclopedia?'

"'Was I hired for that?'

"'Don't you mean Bismarck?'

"'What's the matter with Charlie doing it?'

"'Is he dead?'

"'Is there any hurry?'

"'Shan't I bring you the book and let you look it up yourself?'

"'What do you want to know for?'

"And I will lay you ten to one that after you have answered the questions, and explained why you want it, the clerk will go off and get one of the other clerks to help him try to find Garcia—and then come back and tell you there is no such man. Of course, I may lose my bet, but, according to the Law of Average, I will not."

Now, there are many executives so constituted that they are not only willing, but glad, to explain the why and the wherefore of the orders they give. When they give the order, they are oftentimes willing to listen to suggestions, and oftentimes to adopt them. These are men of the deliberate, calm, reflective, rather mild type, with only a moderate development of the crown of the head which shows a love of authority. Oftentimes, also, they are men of the erratic, impulsive type who realize their impulsiveness and are rather glad than otherwise to be picked up by queries and suggestions from their subordinates. But for the man of the positive, incisive, decided, domineering type these questions and suggestions, this attitude which proposes that something else ought to be done, or that the thing ought to be done in "some other way," are exasperating in the extreme. Since this is the usual type of man to be found in industrial business, it is not strange that so many employees, perhaps efficient enough otherwise, fail to give satisfaction. It is because they seemingly cannot overcome their itch to do the thing "some other way." There is the best of all psychological reasons why every employee should read and take to heart Elbert Hubband's "Message to Garcia."

Over and over again, young men and young women have come to us saying: "I wish you would tell me why I cannot hold a position. I know I do the work well enough, but, somehow or other, I seem to be unfortunate. I have trouble with everyone I work for and cannot remain in any one position for very long." In practically every case the trouble has been that the young man or the young woman did not understand the simple principles of human nature.

HOW TO TAKE DISCIPLINE

Many sensitive souls do not understand that a wide-headed man of the bony and muscular type, with high, retreating forehead, prominent brows, large nose, high in the bridge, prominent teeth and mouth, and somewhat retreating chin, is intensely energetic, practical and impatient—that he wants to see things done—that he demands results and cannot wait for them. He is inclined to be nervous and irritable. When things go wrong, or he thinks they go wrong, he says things, says them with brutal frankness and considerable vigor. He may even use profanity and call names. He is especially impatient with and exasperated by excuses, since his passion is for results. An excuse to him is like a red rag flaunted in a bull's face. His irritation is relieved by speech. Afterward he passes on and probably forgets all about the incident. Certainly he does not hold it against the employee personally.

If, in addition to his other characteristics, this man also has a high crown, he is inclined to be domineering and exacting. Since his whole intention in his sharp speeches is to stimulate his employees to greater efficiency, and since the farthest thing from his thoughts or his intentions is to hurt their personal feelings, there is probably nothing that will so quickly and thoroughly arouse his resentment as any expression, word or act of wounded pride on the part of his employee.

Most employees make the serious mistake of taking criticism or censure as a personal matter. They should reflect that their employer has no interest in hurting their feelings—that what he wants is efficient service, profitable not only to himself but to the employee, and that, according to his type and his knowledge, he is taking the best possible means to secure it.

When an employee enters an organization, he becomes an integral part of a complicated service-rendering and profit-making machine. If he has any tender personal feelings, he should wrap them up carefully in an envelope of indifference and lock them away safely in the strong box of ambition. Then he is perfectly willing to let his employer call him a blockhead, provided the result is increased efficiency and profit.

TOO MUCH DIGNITY

A young man of our acquaintance once went to work as assistant to the manager of an insurance company. This young man was quiet, hard-working, dependable, and efficient. With his self-effacing modesty and the remarkable accuracy and care with which he attended to every detail of his work, he would have made an ideal assistant to most employers. The manager of this insurance company, however, was jovial, friendly, social, witty, and companionable. At first he was delighted with his new assistant. As time went on, however, the young man's solemnity, his taciturnity, and the quiet, dignified way in which he permitted all attempts at sociability and jocularity to pass over his head, as it were, unnoticed, began to get on his employer's nerves.

"If I don't get that young man out of the office, I will either murder him or commit suicide," he told us. "Efficient? Lord, yes! I never knew anybody so damnably efficient. Dependable? He is so dependable that he is uncanny. I would rather have a human being around who is willing to smoke a cigar with me once in a while, to crack a joke, or at least to laugh at my jokes. Just to break the monotony, I would be perfectly willing to have him make a few mistakes, to forget something. I have lots of faults—too many, I guess, to be comfortable around such a paragon of perfection as that boy."

Now, the truth of the matter was, as we well knew, that this young man, while serious-minded and efficient, had a keen sense of humor, appreciated a good joke, and was at times very merry with his own companions. He had in his mind, however, a certain ideal conduct for a business man. And to the best of his ability, he lived up to this ideal, no matter what the personality of his employer.

"FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT"

Many employees make the mistake of attempting familiarity with employers whose dignity is largely developed and whose sociability and sense of humor are only moderate or even deficient. The man whose head shows its longest line from point of chin to crown, who has a long face with long, vertical lines, whose lips are rather thin, whose forehead is rather narrow and somewhat retreating, and whose back-head is only moderately developed or even deficient, is not a man to slap on the back. He will resent any familiarity or any jocular attempt to draw him down on a plane of equality with his employees. If such a man is also fine-textured, he is very sensitive and must be treated with deference and respect. If he has a short upper lip, he is amenable to flattery, but the flattery must be delicate and deferential.

Even when these characteristics are not extreme and the habitual attitude of an employer is one of geniality, with a certain amount of jocularity, employees should be on their guard, especially if the executive has a square head behind. Such a man, like Cousin Egbert, in Harry Leon Wilson's story, "Ruggles of Red Gap," "can be pushed just so far." It is dangerous to try to push him any further. He has a very true and proper sense of dignity and, while he is perfectly willing to be sociable and to live with his employees upon terms of friendliness, he knows well how to check any exuberance which tends to trench upon familiarity.

THE "NAPOLEONIC" EXECUTIVE

There is a type of employer who has a high, well-rounded, long head; his head is also wide above the ears, but rather narrow back of the ears. He is usually light in complexion, fine textured—a good combination of the bony and muscular type and the fat man type. This man's eyes are the neither round, wide-open eyes of simple credulity nor the long, narrow, somewhat oblique slits of secretiveness, avarice, shrewdness and suspicion. His face tends to roundness, curves and dimples, and his lips are rather full. His head is especially high and dome-shaped just above the temples and behind the hair line. His chin may be fairly well formed or it may be narrow and retreating. If it is of the narrow and retreating variety, then some of the characteristics are accentuated.

This man is a man of intense enthusiasm, great energy, a desire to accomplish things and to be the head of whatever he