Evening star., 1921-04-08
No. 8-CharaCter.

" e nave now drTNeu may
be called the moral qualities-as dis
tinguished from the mental qualities
the lack of which often plays a
large part in keeping the salaried en-
ploye in the business rut. l shall not
attempt to define character very
closely. Few of us fully understand
our own characters. much less the
other fellows. Generally speaking.
however. character may be said to
be the measure of our reactions to the
aeid test which life applies to us.
We can prepare ourselves to meet
that acid test by developing our moral
mental qualities. In fact. the diStinc-
tion between these two phases is not
really SO great as might be supposed; :;
for in very large degree "A human
beings moral qualities are reflection
of his mentality.
We have already seen. for instance
that the quality of discretion has
both moral and mental side. and
that it can be developed by the sal
aried employe. If you will make an
earnest effort you can also free your
self of the other fetters which repre-
sent defects of character. and which
may be chaining your feet to the bot
tom rung of the business ladder.
How Morals Affect Work.
Perhaps you will resent my presum-
bHs 10 UlSCuSS CNe moral sac OF
your makeup. so I hasten to make
it clear that it is my purpose to deal
only with those phases of the salaried
'employe's character which bear di-
rectly on his job. During the years
that 7 have been a business executive
] have never discharged a man of bad
habits because of his bad habits but
L have had to dismiss such men be-
cause of the direct reaction of those
habits on their work. In other words
i a ia,r- hot
fs none of my business what saIaried
employe does with himself. or herself.
outside of business hours-in fact I
rather admire the employe who is
OF dictation in regard to his private
4fe-but. on the other hand. il is very
much my business to take cogniZance
OF bad habits that assert themselves
during office hours. either directly or
by the effect thew have on a sub
ordinate's work. In my opinion. the
only code of morals for employes an
executive should have is to expect
that they will be too intelligent and
too ambitious to permit him to feel
the slightest concern about their
morals
II YOU are in another's office. and he
Is talking to you. do YOU occasionally
find yourself reading the correspondence
on his desk or picking up and oxamin-
ing some article. when you ought to be
giving all your attention to what he is
saving?
When you attend conference are
you always ready to take up the thread
Of the discussion. without hesitat atior.
when called on for your opinion, or are
you sometimes obliged to admit that
you were not following the discussion
Just them"
Tests of Mental Alertness.
When some one asks you question
which you hear perfectly do you often ,
voluntarily exciaim "Huh?'' or "How's (,
that?" or make some similar remark be- t,
fore replying?
These are tests of your mental alert |
ness. but they are also tests of your
character. too. For. although mental !
alertness is largely a matter Of concern |
tration, salaried employees lack of ;
concentration may be due to moral |
causes-such as late hours. for instance ;
1t Is mighty hard job to concentrate !
during business hours when one has not |
had sufficient sleep the night before.
When you have good idea which. for |
some reason or other, cannot be adopted. |
do you forget it entirely. or do you save
IT with a view to bringing the subject