In starting to organize even a comparatively small shop, containing say
from 75 to 100 men, it is best to begin by training in the full number
of functional foremen, one for each function, since it must be
remembered that about two out of three of those who are taught this work
either leave of their own accord or prove unsatisfactory; and in
addition, while both the workmen and bosses are adjusting themselves to
their new duties, there are needed fully twice the number of bosses as
are required to carry on the work after it is fully systematized.
Unfortunately, there is no means of selecting in advance those out of a
number of candidates for a given work who are likely to prove
successful. Many of those who appear to have all of the desired
qualities, and who talk and appear the best, will turn out utter
failures, while on the other hand, some of the most unlikely men rise to
the top. The fact is that the more attractive qualities of good manners,
education, and even special training and skill, which are more apparent
on the surface, count for less in an executive position than the grit,
determination and bulldog endurance and tenacity that knows no defeat
and comes up smiling to be knocked down over and over again. The two
qualities which count most for success in this kind of executive work
are grit and what may be called "constructive imagination"--the faculty
which enables a man to use the few facts that are stored in his mind in
getting around the obstacles that oppose him, and in building up
something useful in spite of them; and unfortunately, the presence of
these qualities, together with honesty and common sense, can only be
proved through an actual trial at executive work.
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