Analyzing Character Part 38

"'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 const.i.tuted 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 att.i.tude 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 pa.s.sion 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 pa.s.ses 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 a.s.sistant 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 a.s.sistant 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 a.s.sistant. 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 pa.s.s 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 d.a.m.nably 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 att.i.tude 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 undertakes. He is eager, responsive, emotional, ambitious, and erratic. He is often brilliant, nearly always resourceful, conceives large projects, attempts big things, makes friends with important people, and often secures a very enviable reputation, at least for a time. But this man has his faults. He is emotional and enthusiastic. He throws himself intensely into the accomplishment of one ambitious plan after another. He has not the calmness of dispa.s.sionate judgment and the deliberateness necessary to be a good judge of men. He lacks real courage and therefore attempts to cover up his deficiency by bluff and bl.u.s.ter. Because of his poor judgment in regard to human nature, he frequently selects employees on the impulse of the moment, absolutely without reference to their fitness for the work he wants them to do. The ruling emotion which prompts him in selection may be any one of a dozen. We have seen men like this select important lieutenants because of their personal attractiveness, because someone else wanted them, because of similarity of tastes in matters wholly irrelevant, because the fellows knew how to flatter, out of sympathy for their families, and, in one pathetic case, because the young man thus chosen had painstakingly read through an immense set of books supposed to be representative of the world's best literature.

INJUSTICE TO EMPLOYEES

In many cases, enthusiasm and optimism on the part of such executives have placed men in positions far beyond their capacity and loaded them with responsibilities for which they had no apt.i.tudes. Oftentimes such rapid promotion and such sudden increase of income have utterly turned the head of the victim, setting him back years in his normal development and his pursuit of success.

Because the sudden infatuations of such executives are based upon emotion and not judgment, they flicker out as quickly as the emotion evaporates.

Then ensues a period of suspicion, oftentimes wholly unjust. Because the executive lacks real courage, every word and every act of the employee makes him afraid that there is something sinister and dangerous behind it.

This is accentuated by the fact that, deep down in his own heart, the executive knows that he does not understand men. When this condition of affairs arises, both the executive and his employee are utterly miserable unless the employee, being a man of judgment, and understanding the situation in its essence, has the good sense either to bring the executive w.i.l.l.y-nilly to a complete readjustment of their relations or to resign.

Oftentimes, however, the employee has a larger salary than he ever received before--he also feels certain that if he resigns, he cannot secure so large a salary in any other place--and so he hangs on, hoping against hope that the att.i.tude of his superior will change. The executive, on his part, feels that he ought to discharge the employee. He is not satisfied with him. He is suspicious of him. He is afraid of him. He realizes that he has used bad judgment in selecting him. But he lacks the courage to discharge the man and oftentimes, for this reason, resorts to a series of petty persecutions in an attempt to make him resign.

HOW TO STEER A DIFFICULT COURSE

The employee who is suddenly taken up, flattered, and offered an unusually good position by a man of this type would do well to hesitate long before accepting. If he does accept, he should take care that he does not attempt anything beyond his powers and that he does not accept a larger salary than he is able to earn. Once in his position, he should be modest, efficient, and do his best to keep out of cliques and inside politics. At the same time, he should take great care not to offend those who are powerful. The employees of every "Napoleonic" executive are, by the very nature of the organization, forced into politics. Tenure of office, promotion, and increase in pay all depend, not upon real service--although real service counts; not upon efficiency and merit--although these also count; but primarily upon the whims and caprices of an employer of this type. Every employee of any importance, therefore, does his best, first, to keep his own relations to his employer on a frank, easy, confidential basis; second, in so far as in him lies, to be at peace with all his fellow employees. We have seen some of the most valuable men of their kind we have ever met suddenly discharged without a word of explanation by employers of this type. The trouble was that someone who could get a hearing carried a bit of scandal, perhaps without the slightest foundation in fact, to the ever-suspicious ears of the boss. The boss, because he lacked the courage to admit that he had listened to such gossip, removed a man who had served him satisfactorily for years without a word of warning, and without a hearing.

Unless you understand human nature, and if you are at all responsive to appreciation, there is probably no greater pleasure than to work for such a man as we have described, so long as the sunshine of his favor falls upon you. But, as a general rule, we find their employees anything but happy. Almost without exception they feel that their tenure of office hangs by the slenderest of threads and that it is necessary to regard all of their fellow employees with suspicion. Some men enjoy working in this fevered atmosphere. If you are one of them, there are excellent opportunities for you in the employ of a man of this type. But you will do well always to have a good safe place prepared in which to land if you should suddenly be dropped.

THE BLUFFER

In all of your dealings with the man who lacks real courage, remember that his bl.u.s.tering and show of bravery is only an a.s.sumption to cover up his deficiencies and that if you yourself have the courage to face him and, in the language of the street, "to call his bluff," he will quiet down and be perfectly amenable to reason. But be sure to observe your man carefully and accurately before trying to call his bluff.

SUCCESS AS AN EMPLOYEE

The ultimate success of every employee depends, first of all, upon his selection of the kind of work for which he is pre-eminently fitted; second, his selection, so far as possible, of the kind of employer and superior executive under whom he can do his best work; third, upon his study and mastery of every possible resource of knowledge and training connected with the technical and practical aspects of his work; fourth, upon his careful and scientific development of all of the best and most valuable a.s.sets in his character; fifth, upon a thorough understanding and application of the principles of personal efficiency; sixth, upon an accurate knowledge of the character, disposition and personal peculiarities of his employer or employers and superior executives; seventh, upon an intelligent and diplomatic adjustment of his methods of work, his personal appearance, his personal behavior, his relationship with his fellow employees and with his employers, to the end of building up and maintaining permanently the highest possible degree of confidence in him and satisfaction with his service.

PART FOUR

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF CHARACTER a.n.a.lYSIS

CHAPTER I

THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF CHARACTER a.n.a.lYSIS

A few years ago we were content to guess, to follow tradition, and to charge up to the caprices of fate or an all-wise Providence the failures we experienced as a result of our ignorance. Then someone, less bound by tradition than the average, discovered that exact knowledge was obtainable about most subjects. Scientific research took the place of guess-work or mere haphazard leaps in the dark. We began to observe, cla.s.sify, measure, weigh, test, and record, instead of guess. Thus science was born.

As far back as human records go men have made observations upon others, have formed certain conclusions as a result of these observations, and have recorded them. Some were accurate and valuable; others merely ludicrous and misleading. Tens of thousands of men and women have attempted to a.n.a.lyze human character, but most of them became lost in a maze of apparent contradictions and gave up in despair, content to follow impression and intuition. Though they became discouraged and abandoned the field, each of these workers contributed something of value to the subject, and to-day we have a science of character a.n.a.lysis exact enough to add very greatly to our wisdom in dealing with humanity and its problems.