Analyzing Character Part 32

THE EMPLOYER'S IDEAL

As time goes on, more effective methods of profit sharing will, no doubt, be evolved, methods in which there is greater justice for both employer and employee. New ideas will be developed in welfare work as the result of scientific methods of employment. Employer and employee will learn to understand each other better. The success of all of these methods of organization, when they are adopted, will cause their spread throughout the industrial world, and thus gradually, but surely, we shall approach that ideal organization where every employee is looked upon as a bundle of limitless latent possibilities; where training, education, and development along lines of constructive thought and feeling are held to be of far more importance than the invention of new machinery, the discovery of new methods, or the opening of new markets. This is the reasonable mental att.i.tude. Some obscure employee, thus trained and educated, may invent more wonder-working machinery, discover more efficient methods, and open up wider and more profitable markets than any before dreamed. Even if no such brilliant star arises, the increased efficiency, loyalty, and enthusiasm of the whole ma.s.s of employees, lifted by its improved relations.h.i.+ps, will yield results far beyond any won by mechanical or commercial exploitation.

THE EMPLOYEE'S IDEAL

The ideal for every employee, therefore, is that he should be employed in that position which he is best fitted to fill, doing work which by natural apt.i.tudes, training, and experience he is best qualified to do, and working under conditions of material environment--tools, rates of pay, hours of labor, and periods of rest, superintendence and management, future prospects, and education--which will develop and make useful to himself and his employer his best and finest latent abilities and capacities.

We have seen that the ideal for the organization is that each man in it shall be so selected, a.s.signed, managed, and educated, that he will express for the organization his highest and best constructive thoughts and feelings.

THE MUTUAL IDEAL--CO-OPERATION

There is one more step. That is, the mutual ideal. It is contained in the other two--and the other two are essentially one. The mutual ideal is the ideal of co-operation. There is no antagonism between these ideals. The old fallacy that the boss must get just as much as possible out of the workman and pay just as little as possible, and that the workman must do just as little as he can and wring from the boss just as much pay as he can for what he does, and that, therefore, their interests are diametrically opposed, has been all but exploded. It was based upon ignorance, upon prejudice, and upon privately interested misrepresentation. The new scientific spirit, working side by side with the new spirit of a broader and deeper humanity, has demonstrated, and is demonstrating, the truth, that in no other union is there such great strength as in the union of those who are working together, creating wealth for themselves and serving humanity. This is the mutual, co-operative ideal in employment.

PART THREE

a.n.a.lYZING CHARACTER IN PERSUASION

CHAPTER I

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSUASION

The first act of practically every human being is to cry. This cry, unconscious though it may be, is an eager, insistent demand for attention, an appeal to the minds and the feelings of others, an attempt to persuade others to act. Life itself and all that makes life worth living depends upon the effectiveness of that cry.

From the moment of birth, therefore, you are dependent upon your power to persuade for the provision of all your necessities, the satisfaction of all your desires, and the realization of all your ambitions. The human race produces but few Robinson Crusoes, and even these must have their Fridays. In infancy and early life we persuade our parents to supply our necessities and grant us our privileges and luxuries. Most of us are wise enough to appeal to the powerful sentiments of parental duty, parental love, and parental pride, and, therefore, persuasion is not difficult. As we grow older, we persuade our teachers that we understand our lessons. We persuade our playmates to yield to us a share in their sports, and we persuade our enemies in the boy and girl world to respect us and not to persecute us. As we grow older, we persuade our husbands or our wives to marry us. We persuade our children to grow up in the way they should. We persuade our employers to give us an opportunity to work and to pay us wages. We persuade our neighbors to yield us respect and social privileges. We persuade our servants to render loyalty and efficient service. We persuade dealers to sell us reliable goods at reasonable prices. We persuade our friends to accept our hospitality, to join our clubs, our lodges, and to come and live in our suburbs.

POWER TO PERSUADE ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS

If we enter some profession, we find ourselves constantly faced by the need of persuading our clients and patients, witnesses, judges, juries, opposing counsel and court officers, our congregations and executive boards of our churches and schools, individual members of our parishes, our partners and a.s.sistants, and, in fact, people above us, below us, and all around us. The farmer must sell his produce, the manufacturer his manufactured article, the railroad its transportation service, wholesale and retail distributors their merchandise. Politics consists almost wholly in persuasion. A congressman must persuade first his party leaders and perhaps his compet.i.tor in the party; then the voters at the primaries; then the voters at the election; then the speaker of the House; then the members of his committee; then the President and many executives in the administration; then, perhaps, the House itself in a.s.sembly; then, in turn, his const.i.tuents and, perhaps, the entire nation.

Wealth cannot be gained, social position cannot be attained, honor conies not, power is impossible, authority is not conferred, pleasure cannot be purchased, a happy and harmonious human life cannot be realized, spiritual peace cannot be found, and happiness is forever beyond our reach, except through the power of persuasion. By persuasion in prayer, we attempt to move the very mind and heart of G.o.d Himself.

TWO CANONS OF SUCCESS

So all-inclusive is this power that if you will think the matter out clearly, you will see that the answer to the problem of every human being, diverse as these problems are, the gratification of every human desire, the realization of every human ambition, may be summed up in two brief colloquial injunctions, namely: first, have the goods; second, to be able to sell them. Neither one of these is complete without the other. No man can permanently succeed in any truly desirable way unless he has something tangible or intangible, spiritual, intellectual, or material which he can offer to others as compensation for that which he wishes to receive. And no matter how valuable any man's offering, it must lie unnoticed in the world's markets unless he can sell it--in other words, persuade others to exchange for it that which he desires. The thing he wants may be only an opinion or a conviction, may be only of momentary value, or it may be gold and silver coin.

The air-brake is probably one of the most valuable inventions ever applied to the railroad industry, and yet George Westinghouse, its inventor, found it impossible even to give it away to railroad presidents until he had learned how to sell it. The telephone, perhaps the greatest convenience, luxury, and time and money saver of modern times, would have remained a scientific toy unless the most astute and vigorous methods of persuasion had been used to insure its almost universal adoption and use. We have seen that Elias Howe built the first sewing machine so well that its fundamentals have never been improved upon, and yet, despite his most strenuous efforts and the efforts of his friends and a.s.sociates, it remained a mere mechanical curiosity until he had learned how to persuade others to use it.

MUTUALITY OF ALL HUMAN INTERESTS

A.F. Sheldon has said, "Salesmans.h.i.+p is not conquest, but co-operation."

Salesmans.h.i.+p is only the commercial name for persuasion, therefore Mr.

Sheldon has uttered a great truth. Human interests do not clash, however much they may appear to. All human interests are mutual. John D.

Rockefeller did not ama.s.s a fortune by making others poor. On the contrary, in the building up of his hundreds of millions, he increased the wealth of others by billions. The theory that there is not enough wealth to go around, and that if one man has a great deal of money others must therefore have too little, is a vicious and dangerous fallacy. The resources of the universe are infinite. The possibilities of humanity are unlimited. The interests of all lie, fundamentally, in the greater and greater development of the latent possibilities in all men and the more and more efficient exploitation and conservation of the resources of the universe. This is philosophic. It is a generalization. It is a statement of facts so tremendous in their scope and so deep in their significance that it is difficult to make a connection between them and the practical details of every-day life.

PERSUASION REVEALS MUTUALITY OF INTERESTS

The very fact that human intercourse, in every aspect of its activity, rests upon persuasion is an indication that all interests are mutual. The persuader teaches the persuaded that their interest coincide. Take a practical example: Salesmen have declared to us that life insurance policies are the most difficult of all specialties to sell. Yet, in nine cases out of ten, policyholders will agree that their benefits far exceed those derived by the salesmen who persuade them to purchase. The life insurance salesman is not attempting to hoodwink, hypnotize, cajole, or browbeat his client in a case where their interests clash, but simply, by skilful setting forth of facts and appeals to the feelings, to persuade his client to act in his own interest.

We have seen in this chapter that all individuals who succeed depend upon their power of persuasion. We have seen, also, that persuasion is not necessarily an attempt to advance the interests of one at the expense of another, but essentially a process by means of which two or more minds reach the conclusion that their interests coincide. Since these two propositions are true, it follows that we shall be justified in laying tribute upon every means within our power to increase our effectiveness in persuasion.

PERSUASION A MENTAL ACT DEPENDING UPON INDIVIDUAL MENTAL RESPONSE

Persuasion has been defined as the meeting of minds. This is an excellent definition, chiefly because it localizes the activities involved. It identifies our problem as a purely mental or psychical one. The reason why any two people disagree as to any truth is because their minds have no common ground upon which to meet. Either the minds do not possess all the facts, have not reasoned in accordance with the facts so as to reach a sound conclusion, or, having the facts and having reached the conclusion, they are actuated by different motives. Or it may be a combination of both of these conditions which prevents their meeting. Granting that it is to a man's interest to buy a life insurance policy, the reason he and the solicitor cannot get together on the proposition is either because he does not know all of the facts involved or because the solicitor has not appealed to motives strong enough to cause his prospective customer to take action. To the insurance solicitor, the facts of the case may be so clear and so easily grasped that he underestimates his prospective client's opposition, and so does not present the facts in a convincing manner or he himself may have such a confused idea of the factors in the case that he cannot state them clearly. The prospective client may have a remarkably quick, keen comprehension of the essential factors of any plan, but may be unable to grasp details, while, on the other hand, the solicitor, not knowing this, may present his proposition in such minute detail as to confuse. Or the situation may be exactly reversed. The client's mind may be very slow in action and demand the presentation of a few essential facts with all of the reasons for them, or it may be very quick in action and demand the presentation of many facts in rapid succession, with no attempt to give reasons for them. It will thus be seen that, even in getting down to a conclusive possession of facts, the persuader and the persuaded may be greatly handicapped by misunderstanding.

THE DIFFERENCE IN MOTIVES

When we proceed from fact to motive, we find even greater possibilities of misunderstanding. To the solicitor the one all-powerful motive for the purchase of a life insurance policy may lie in the fact that it is an excellent investment. Unless, therefore, he understands psychology and his client well enough to do otherwise, he may talk the investment feature and appeal to the investment motive when dealing with a man who cares nothing about the investment, but might respond readily and instantly if his desire to provide for the future of his wife and children were appealed to.

Success in persuading, therefore, depends upon two things: First, knowledge in general as to how the human mind works; how it receives its knowledge; how it proceeds from facts and motives to conclusions; what its ambitions, desires, and other feelings are; how these may be aroused and, finally, how they may provide the motive power and induce favorable action. Second, knowledge as to how each individual human mind works; what it's particular methods are in the obtaining of information, in reasoning upon that information, and forming its conclusions; what its motives are and how these motives finally induce decision and action.

The study of the first of these problems is a study of psychology. Because knowledge in regard to it can be easily obtained in practically all of the standard works of salesmans.h.i.+p, perhaps it is not necessary for us to go into it more deeply here. Those who wish to pursue it further, may find an exceedingly valuable discussion of it in "Influencing Men in Business," by Walter Dill Scott; "The Art of Selling," by Arthur Frederick Sheldon, and "The Science of Business Building," by Arthur Frederick Sheldon.

MANY DOMINATING MOTIVES

As we have already seen, one man gets his information very quickly, another must get it slowly. One demands details, another cannot endure them. But these are not the only differences. One man learns best through his eyes, another through his ears, and still another by his sense of touch. One man gets his facts most easily by reading about them, another must see the actual production, while the third forms the most definite and easily understandable mental picture of them as a result of hearing them described. One man, in buying machinery, wants to examine carefully every detail of its construction, another man wants only to see it in action and examine its product, while still another man demands both.

There is the same diversity in motives. One man's strongest motive is vanity; another's, ambition, love of power; still another's, love of beauty. One man responds most readily to any appeal to his affections, another to an appeal to his pride. So, amongst dominating motives in men, we find also avarice, greed, parsimony, benevolence, progressiveness, love of variety, love of the striking and unusual, love of pleasure, a love of cleanliness, physical appet.i.te, a desire for comfort, love of home, love of family, love of friends, love of country, religion, philanthropy, politics, and many others which will readily occur to the thinking reader.

DIFFICULTY OF DETERMINING MOTIVES

It will readily be seen that no study of psychology in the ordinary acceptance of the term can give us any clue to these variations in individuals. Yet successful persuasion depends upon as accurate a knowledge as possible of these very differences among people. The parsimonious salesman who takes it for granted that every one's motives are the same as his own, and, therefore, talks to every prospect about the money-saving possibilities of his commodity, will most certainly fail in trying to persuade those to purchase who care nothing about saving a few cents, but do care a great deal about the quality, style, and beauty of the commodity. The attorney who makes his plea to the court on the basis of technical justice in every case he pleads will lose many cases in those courts where the presiding judge is rather impatient with technical justice and may, perhaps, decide cases upon their merits or according to his own sympathies. We once knew a learned, able, and conscientious judge who, despite his many years' training in the law, was almost certain to decide a case in favor of the litigant who made the strongest appeal to his sympathies. The parent who knows nothing but the persuasive power of corporal punishment, will have little success in disciplining a child blessed with unusual fighting spirit, independence, and tenacity, just as the parent who appeals only to a love of approval will fail in handling a child who does not care what people think about him.

PERSUASION IN DISCIPLINE OF CHILDREN

We once knew a woman who lived near us who had two little boys. One of them was sensitive, timid, affectionate, and idealistic. Being a healthy, active boy, there was a great deal of mischief in him, and in her attempts to discipline him the mother scolded, berated, and often cuffed and slapped him, occasionally administering a whipping. It was plain that the scoldings and whippings only made the boy more shy, more self-conscious, and less confident of himself, which, in one sense, was the worst thing that could have happened to him. The qualities he most needed were courage and self-confidence. With his ideals, his responsiveness, and his affection, he could have been handled easily and would have developed a splendid intellect and a fine character normally and healthfully.

The other boy, although somewhat younger, was more than a match for his older brother. He was practical, matter-of-fact, shrewd, courageous, too self-confident if anything, always ready for a fight, aggressive and wilful. The mother did not scold or whip this boy for the simple reason that she could not. He was too active and too willing to fight. Being thus deprived of the only means of discipline which seemed to her to be effective, she permitted the boy princ.i.p.ally to have his own way, her only appeals being to his reason. Unfortunately, this is the very type of boy who will not listen to reason. In this case, as in the first, she would have been successful if she had appealed to the boy's affections, for he had a very strong love nature and would have responded instantly.

It is plain enough to any thoughtful mind that it is not safe to judge of other people's motives by their conversation. "Language," said Talleyrand, "was invented for the purpose of concealing thought." Many people conceal their real motives under a very alluring curtain of language. It seems to be the most natural thing in the world for the thief and swindler to talk with the greatest apparent earnestness and sincerity and honesty. Pious talk very frequently is the haze in which an avaricious and greedy soul hides itself. Bluff, bl.u.s.ter, and boasting are the sops which the coward throws to his own vanity, while the quietest, sweetest, and gentlest tones often sheath the fierce heart of the born fighter, as a velvet glove is said to clothe a hand of steel.

HOW MOTIVES MAY BE KNOWN

Motives lie at the very foundation of being. They are deeply imbedded in the very cells and fiber of the individual. They shape his thoughts, his habits, and all of his actions. It is, therefore, impossible that they should not show themselves to the practiced eye in every physical characteristic, in the tones of the voice, in the handshake, in gestures, in the walk, and in handwriting, in clothing, in the condition of the body, and in the expression of the face. So the motives of man festoon his personality with flaunting and infallible signs to be known and read by all men who care to take the trouble to learn. Some of them are so plain that there is scarcely any grown person so un.o.bservant as not to have seen them. Others are more elusive, but none the less legible to the practiced eye.