“Last week I called on a neighborhood grocer and saw
that the cash registers he was using at his checkout
counters were very old-fashioned. I approached the
owner and told him: ‘You are literally throwing away
pennies every time a customer goes through your line.’
With that I threw a handful of pennies on the floor.
He quickly became more attentive. The mere words
should have been of interest to him, but the sound of
Pennies hitting the floor really stopped him. I was able
to get an order from him to replace all of his old
machines.”
It works in home life as well. When the old-time lover
Proposed to his sweetheart, did he just use words of
love? No! He went down on his knees. That really
showed he meant what he said. We don’t propose on our
knees any more, but many suitors still set up a romantic
atmosphere before they pop the question.
Dramatizing what you want works with children as
well. Joe B. Fant, Jr., of Birmingham, Alabama, was having
difficulty getting his five-year-old boy and three-year-
old daughter to pick up their toys, so he invented a
“train.” Joey was the engineer (Captain Casey Jones) on
his tricycle. Janet’s wagon was attached, and in the evening
she loaded all the “coal” on the caboose (her
wagon) and then jumped in while her brother drove her
around the room. In this way the room was cleaned up
– without lectures, arguments or threats.
Mary Catherine Wolf of Mishawaka, Indiana, was having
some problems at work and decided that she had to
discuss them with the boss. On Monday morning she
requested an appointment with him but was told he was
very busy and she should arrange with his secretary for
an appointment later in the week. The secretary indicated
that his schedule was very tight, but she would try
to fit her in.
Ms. Wolf described what happened:
“I did not get a reply from her all week long. Whenever
I questioned her, she would give me a reason why
the boss could not see me. Friday morning came and I
had heard nothing definite. I really wanted to see him
and discuss my problems before the weekend, so I asked
myself how I could get him to see me.
“What I finally did was this. I wrote him a formal letter.
I indicated in the letter that I fully understood how
extremely busy he was all week, but it was important
that I speak with him. I enclosed a form letter and a self-
addressed envelope and asked him to please fill it out or
ask his secretary to do it and return it to me. The form
letter read as follows:
Ms. Wolf – I will be able to see you on __________ a t
__________A.M/P.M. I will give you _____minutes of
my time.
“I put this letter in his in-basket at 11 A.M. At 2 P.M. I
checked my mailbox. There was my self-addressed envelope.
He had answered my form letter himself and
indicated he could see me that afternoon and could give
me ten minutes of his time. I met with him, and we
talked for over an hour and resolved my problems.
“If I had not dramatized to him the fact that I really
wanted to see him, I would probably be still waiting for
an appointment.”
James B. Boynton had to present a lengthy market report.
His firm had just finished an exhaustive study for a
leading brand of cold cream. Data were needed immediately
about the competition in this market; the prospective
customer was one of the biggest – and most
formidable – men in the advertising business.
And his first approach failed almost before he began.
“The first time I went in,” Mr. Boynton explains, “I
found myself sidetracked into a futile discussion of the
methods used in the investigation. He argued and I argued.
He told me I was wrong, and I tried to prove that
I was right.
“I finally won my point, to my own satisfaction – but
my time was up, the interview was over, and I still
hadn’t produced results.
“The second time, I didn’t bother with tabulations of
figures and data, I went to see this man, I dramatized my
facts I.
“As I entered his office, he was busy on the phone.
While he finished his conversation, I opened a suitcase
and dumped thirty-two jars of cold cream on top of his
desk – all products he knew – all competitors of his
cream.
“On each jar, I had a tag itemizing the results of the
trade investigation, And each tag told its story briefly,
dramatically.
“What happened?
“There was no longer an argument. Here was something
new, something different. He picked up first one
and then another of the jars of cold cream and read the
information on the tag. A friendly conversation developed.
He asked additional questions. He was intensely
interested. He had originally given me only ten minutes
to present my facts, but ten minutes passed, twenty minutes,
forty minutes, and at the end of an hour we were
still talking.
“I was presenting the same facts this time that I had
presented previously. But this time I was using dramatization,
showmanship – and what a difference it made.”
PRINCIPLE 11
Dramatize your ideas.
12
WHEN NOTHING ELSE WORKS,
TRY THIS
Charles Schwab had a mill manager whose people
weren’t producing their quota of work.
“How is it,” Schwab asked him, “that a manager as
capable as you can’t make this mill turn out what it
should?”
“I don’t know,” the manager replied. “I’ve coaxed the
men, I’ve pushed them, I’ve sworn and cussed, I’ve
threatened them with damnation and being fired. But
nothing works. They just won’t produce.”
This conversation took place at the end of the day, just
before the night shift came on. Schwab asked the manager
for a piece of chalk, then, turning to the nearest
man, asked: “How many heats did your shift make
today?”
“Six.”
Without another word, Schwab chalked a big figure
six on the floor, and walked away.
When the night shift came in, they saw the “6” and
asked what it meant.
“The big boss was in here today,” the day people said.
“He asked us how many heats we made, and we told
him six. He chalked it down on the floor.”
The next morning Schwab walked through the mill
again. The night shift had rubbed out “6” and replaced
it with a big “7.”
When the day shift reported for work the next morning,
they saw a big “7” chalked on the floor. So the night
shift thought they were better than the day shift did
they? Well, they would show the night shift a thing or
two. The crew pitched in with enthusiasm, and when
they quit that night, they left behind them an enormous,
swaggering “10.” Things were stepping up.
Shortly this mill, which had been lagging way behind
in production, was turning out more work than any other
mill in the plant.
The principle?
Let Charles Schwab say it in his own words: “The
way to get things done,” say Schwab, “is to stimulate
competition. I do not mean in a sordid, money-getting
way, but in the desire to excel.”
The desire to excel! The challenge! Throwing down
the gauntlet! An infallible way of appealing to people of
spirit.
Without a challenge, Theodore Roosevelt would never
have been President of the United States. The Rough
Rider, just back from Cuba, was picked for governor of
New York State. The opposition discovered he was no
longer a legal resident of the state, and Roosevelt,
frightened, wished to withdraw. Then Thomas Collier
Platt, then U.S. Senator from New York, threw down the
challenge. Turning suddenly on Theodore Roosevelt, he
cried in a ringing voice: “Is the hero of San Juan Hill a
coward?”
Roosevelt stayed in the fight – and the rest is history.
A challenge not only changed his life; it had a real effect
upon the future of his nation.
“All men have fears, but the brave put down their
fears and go forward, sometimes to death, but always to
victory” was the motto of the King’s Guard in ancient
Greece. What greater challenge can be offered than the
opportunity to overcome those fears?
When Al Smith was governor of New York, he was up
against it. Sing Sing, at the time the most notorious pen-
itentiary west of Devil’s Island, was without a warden.
Scandals had been sweeping through the pristin walls,
scandals and ugly rumors. Smith needed a strong man to
rule Sing Sing – an iron man. But who? He sent for
Lewis E. Lawes of New Hampton.
“How about going up to take charge of Sing Sing?” he
said jovially when Lawes stood before him. “They need
a man up there with experience.”
Lawes was flabbergasted. He knew the dangers of
Sing Sing. It was a political appointment, subject to the
vagaries of political whims. Wardens had come and gone
– one had lasted only three weeks. He had a career to
consider. Was it worth the risk?
Then Smith, who saw his hesitation, leaned back in
his chair and smiled. “Young fellow,” he said, “I don’t
blame you for being scared. It’s a tough spot. It’ll take a
big person to go up there and stay.”
So Smith was throwing down a challenge, was he?
Lawes liked the idea of attempting a job that called for
someone “big.”
So he went. And he stayed. He stayed, to become the
most famous warden of his time. His book 20,000 Years
in Sing Sing sold into the hundred of thousands of copies.
His broadcasts on the air and his stories of prison
life have inspired dozens of movies. His “humanizing”
of criminals wrought miracles in the way of prison reform.
“I have never found,” said Harvey S. Firestone,
founder of the great Firestone Tire and Rubber Company,
“that pay and pay alone would either bring together
or hold good people. I think it was the game
itself.”
Frederic Herzberg, one of the great behavorial scientists,
concurred. He studied in depth the work attitudes
of thousands of people ranging from factory workers to
senior executives. What do you think he found to be the
most motivating factor – the one facet of the jobs that
was most stimulating? Money? Good working conditions?
Fringe benefits? No – not any of those. The one
major factor that motivated people was the work itself. If
the work was exciting and interesting, the worker looked
forward to doing it and was motivated to do a good job.
That is what every successful person loves: the game.
The chance for self-expression. The chance to prove his
or her worth, to excel, to win. That is what makes foot-races
and hog-calling and pie-eating contests. The desire
to excel. The desire for a feeling of importance.
PRINCIPLE 12
Throw down a challenge.
I n a N u t s h e l l
WIN PEOPLE TO YOUR WAY OF THINKING
PRINCIPLE 1
The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
PRINCIPLE 2
Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say,
“You’re wrong.”
PRINCIPLE 3
If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
PRINCIPLE 4
Begin in a friendly way.
PRINCIPLE 5
Get the other person saying “yes, yes” immediately.
PRINCIPLE 6
Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
PRINCIPLE 7
Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
PRINCIPLE 8
Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of
view.
PRINCIPLE 9
Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
PRINCIPLE 10
Appeal to the nobler motives.
PRINCIPLE 11
Dramatize your ideas.
PRINCIPLE 12
Throw down a challenge.
PART FOUR
Be a Leader: How to Change
People Without Giving
Offense or Arousing
Resentment
1