The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1917-05-25
THE MAN WHO SUCCEEDS MUST
"OUTTHINK HIS JOB" AND BE
READY FOR NEXT JOB.

paTentiy OF meulOCIc dDtllty, anu
without any strong friends in finan-
cial or business circles, and therefore
without any pull" scared a clerical
position in a large financial institu-
ton. Not many years passed before,
upon the death of the head of this
big financial concern, this young man
was elected to succeed him. Having
known him since early youth, and
wondering how it hapl ened that he
had been advanced to a position of
such responsibility over the heads of
many others who had b en- in the in
| stitution long before hi /, the writer
asked the reason for his success, and,
in brief, his reply was bout as fol-
lows:
II made it my aim to learn every
thing l possibly could about every
phase of the company's business.
There were many times when some of
the bookkeepers or clerks wanted to
get away for a baseball or football
game, or for some other amusement,
and it fell to my lot on such occasions
to do their work. | did not grumble.
because / realized that every time l
was doing somebody e'se's work l
was learning more about the business
than anyone else. While they were
playing l was working, for after do
ing my own work ! had to do theirs.
l was determined to be prepared for
any position which required a knowl-
edge of the business, not knowing
when ! might have an opportunity to
use this information. When the
head of the concern, who had for
many years had the exclusive man.
agement of many of its large opera
tons, and especially of its loans on
collaterals, died suddenly, l knew GER
tain loans, amply pr ytected at the
time, but about which there might
be some question, in Jew of the ru-
mored difficulties of a big railroad.
I went Immediately t, the directors
and explained these facts. They u
thorized me, by reason Of the knowl-
edge that l had gained about these
loans and the securities, to undertake
their collection or their protection by
additional collateral. / was able to
do this because of the knowledge l
had gained in always standing ready
to do the work of any mar in the
place who wanted to get off for base
ball or other amusements. At a
meeting of the directors following the
death of the head of the concern to
elect his successor, it happened that
they came to the conclusion that |
knew more about the details of the
business than anyone else in the in
stitution, and fol that reason | was
elected his successor"
The mar who made these state
ments had no commanding personal
ity, physical or from any other point
of view. He was simply a plain
young man of fair education, without
any backing anywhere to secure his
advancement. But while others
were playing he was fitting himself
for anything that might develop in
the future. He determined to be
ready for any other job in the con-
Germ that might open, probably never,
however, imagining that the time
would come when he would be the
head of the concern.
The man who wants to succeed
must do assthis man did. He must be
ready for the next job before the job
is ready for him. There are thou
sands of young men never quite sat
isfied with what they are doing or
with their pay, but who are making
no effort by a thorough study of all
phases of the business to be ready
for the next job. They are looking
for advancement for which they are
not prepared, and they are dissatis-
fled because advancement does not
come. The world is made up of
young men of this kind. They be-
come dissatisfied because of lack of
success, when the lack of success is
due wholly to themselves. When
they see meo else advanced they
think it is because of a pull" or per-
sonal preference, or for some other
reason which they are always ready
to imagine, when the real truth of
the matter is that they have failed
to prepare themselves for the next
job. They have, perchance, looked
after the work that they n doing
fairly well, but they have learned
nothing else about the business, and
are not prepared to handle any other
feature of the business than the par
ticular job which they hold.-Manu-
facturers' Record.
ALL WRONG