However deserving of advancement a man may be, he realizes he has but a slim chance to succeed if his worth is unrecognized.  So he wants appreciation from his chief.  He knows that unless his worth is perceived and truly valued, some one else, who may be less qualified, is apt to be selected for the “Manager’s” job he desires.  Such “injustices” have poisoned countless disappointed hopes with bitterest resentment.

The deserving man who fails because he is a misfit in his particular position, the worthy man who is limited to a small career because the work he does lacks scope for the use of all his ability; the third good man who has been kept down for the reason that his chief is blind to his qualifications for promotion—­all three of these failures understand pretty clearly the reasons for their non-success.

[Sidenote:  When Lack of Salesmanship Causes Failure]

It is very different in the case of the capable man who fails because he has been inefficient in selling true impressions of his qualifications for success.  A private secretary, for illustration, might be thoroughly competent for managerial duties; but by his self-effacement in his present job he might make the false impression that he was wanting in executive capacity.  He would be given a chance as manager if he were effective in creating a true impression of his administrative ability.  Such a capable man, if he has little or no scientific knowledge of the selling process is apt also to lack comprehension of the value to him of knowing how to sell ideas.  He does not happen to call himself a salesman.  Therefore he has never studied with personal interest the fine art of selling.  He does not realize that ignorance of salesmanship, and consequent non-use of the selling process, almost always are responsible for the merely partial success or the downright failure in life of the man who deserves to win, but who loses out.

[Sidenote:  Who Is To Blame for Failure]

One may feel able to “deliver the goods,” were he given the chance.  He may know where his best capability is greatly needed and would be highly appreciated if recognized.  Yet the door of opportunity may not open to his deserving hand, however hard he tries to win his way in.  His failure seems to him altogether unfair, the rankest injustice from Fortune.

If a man knows he is completely fitted to fill a higher position, he feels considerable self-confidence when he first applies for it.  But his real ability may not be recognized by his chief.  The ambitious man may be denied the coveted chance to take the step upward to the bigger opportunities for which he rightly believes himself qualified.  If his deserts and his utmost efforts do not win the promotion he desires, he grows discouraged.  He loses the taste of zest for his work.  His earlier optimism oozes away.  After awhile his ambition slumps.  Then he resigns himself sullenly to the conviction that he is a failure but is not to blame.