“The more you think about this law, the deeper you will see it goes. It literally hands you a blank check, signed by the Maker of Universal Law, and leaves you to fill in the amount — and the kind — of payment you want! Mediocre successes are those that obey this law a little way — that fill in the check with a small amount — but that stop short of big vision in it. If every employee would only get the idea of this law firmly fixed in him as a principle, not subject to wavering with fluctuating moods, the success of the organization would be miraculous. One of my fears is apt to be that, by promoting the other fellow’s success, I am sidetracking my own; but the exact opposite is the truth.
“Suppose every employee would look at his own case as an exact parallel to that of his firm. What does his firm give for the money it gets from the public? Service! Service in advance! The better the service that is given out, the more money comes back. What does the firm do to bring public attention to its service? It advertises; that is part of the service. Now, suppose that I, as an employee, begin giving my service to the firm in advance of all hoped for payment. Suppose I advertise my service. How do I do either? I cannot do anything constructive in that firm’s office or store or plant or premises that is not service, from filing a letter correctly to mending the fence or pleasing a customer; from looking up a word for the stenographer, to encouraging her to look it up herself; demonstrating a machine to a customer or encouraging him to demonstrate it himself; from helping my immediate apparent rival to get a raise, to selling the whole season’s output. As for advertising myself, I begin advertising myself the moment I walk into the office or the store or the shop in the morning; I cannot help it. Everybody who looks at me sees my advertisement. Everybody around me has my advertisement before his eyes all day long. So has the boss — my immediate chief and the head of the firm, no matter where they are. And if I live up to my advertising, nobody can stop me from selling my goods — my services! The more a man knocks me, the more he advertises me; because he calls attention to me; and ill am delivering something better than he says I am, the interested parties — my employers — will see it, and will not be otherwise influenced by what he says.
“More than that, I must give to every human being I come in contact with, from my wife to the bootblack who shines my shoes; from my brother to my sworn foe. Sometimes people will tell you to smile; but the smile I give has got to be a real smile that lives up to its advertising. If I go around grinning like a Cheshire cat, the Cheshire-cat grin will be what I get back — multiplied! If I give the real thing, I’ll get back the real thing — multiplied! If anybody objects that this is a selfish view to take, I answer him that any law of salvation from anything by anybody that has ever been offered for any purpose, is a selfish view to take. The only unselfishness that has ever been truly taught is that of giving a lesser thing in hope of receiving a greater.
“Now, why am I so sure of this law? How can you be sure? I have watched it work; it works everywhere. You have only to try it, and keep on trying it and it will prove true for you. It is not true because I say so, nor because anybody else says so; it is just true. Theosophists call it the law of Karma; humanitarians call it the law of Service; businessmen call it the law of common sense; Jesus Christ called it the law of Love. It rules whether I know it or not, whether I believe it or not, whether I defy it or not. I can’t break it! Jesus of Nazareth, without reference to any religious idea you may have about Him, without consideration as to whether He was or was not divine, was the greatest business Man that ever lived, and he said: ‘Give and ye shall receive — good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over!’ And this happens to be so — not because He said it — but because it is the Truth, which we all, whether we admit it or not, worship as God. No man can honestly say that he does not put the truth supreme.
“It is the truth — the principle of giving and receiving — only there are few men who go the limit on it. But going the limit is the way to unlimited returns!
“What shall I give? What I have, of course. Suppose you believe in this idea — and suppose you should start giving it out, the idea itself, tactfully, wisely, and living it yourself in your organization.
How long do you think it will be before you are a power in that organization, recognized as such and getting pay as such? It is more valuable than all the cleverness and special information you can possibly possess without it. What you have, give — to everybody. If you have an idea, do not save it for your own use only; give it. It is the best thing you have to give and therefore the thing best to give — and therefore the thing that will bring the best back to you. I believe that if a man would follow this principle, even to his trade secrets, he would profit steadily more and more; and more certainly than he will by holding on to anything for himself. He would never have to worry about his own affairs because he would be working on fundamental law. Law never fails — and it will be easy for you to discover what is or is not law. And if law is worth using part of the time, it is worth using all the time.
“Look around you first, with an eye to seeing the truth, and then put the thing to the test. Through both methods of investigation you will find a blank check waiting for you to fill in with ‘whatsoever you desire,’ and a new way to pray and to get what you pray for.”
Chapter 12 — The Three Requisites
Sometime today or tomorrow or next month, in practically every commercial office and manufacturing plant in the United States, an important executive will sit back in his chair and study a list of names on a sheet of white paper before him.
Your name may be on it.
A position of responsibility is open and he is face to face with the old, old problem — “Where can I find the man?”
The faces, the words, the work, the impressions of various men will pass through his mind in quick review. What is the first question he will ask concerning each?
“Which man is strongest on initiative, which one can best assume responsibility?”
Other things being equal, THAT is the man who will get the job. For the first requisite in business as in social life is confidence in yourself — knowledge of your power. Given that, the second is easy — initiative or the courage to start things. Lots of men have ideas, but few have the confidence in themselves or the courage to start anything.
With belief and initiative, the third requisite follows almost as a matter of course — the faith to go ahead and do things in the face of all obstacles.
“Oh, God,” said Leonardo da Vinci, “you sell us everything for the price of an effort.”
Certainly no one had a better chance to know than he. An illegitimate son, brought up in the family of his father, the misfortune of his birth made him the source of constant derision. He had to do something to lift himself far above the crowd. And he did. “For the price of an effort” he became the greatest artist in Italy — probably the greatest in the world — in a day when Italy was famous for her artists. Kings and princes felt honored at being associated with this illegitimate boy. He made the name he had no right to famous for his work alone.
“Work out your own salvation!” said Paul. And the first requisite in working it out is knowledge of your power. “Every man of us has all the centuries in him.” — Morley. All the ages behind you have bequeathed you stores of abilities, which you are allowing to lie latent. Those abilities are stored up in your subconscious mind. Call upon them. Use them. As Whittier put it —
All the good the past has had
Remains to make our own time glad.
Are you an artist? The cunning of a da Vinci, the skill of a Rembrandt, the vision of a Reynolds, is behind those fingers of yours. Use the Genie-of-your-mind to call upon them.
Are you a surgeon, a lawyer, a minister, and an engineer, a businessman? Keep before your mind’s eye the biggest men who have ever done the things you now are