Qualifications for an Executive

To do the right thing, at the right time, in the right way.  To do some things better than they were done before.  To eliminate errors.  To know both sides of a question.  To be courteous.  To set an example.  To work for the love of work.  To anticipate requirements.  To develop resources.  To master circumstances.  To act from reason rather than from rule.  To be satisfied with nothing short of perfection.—­H.  Gordon Selfridge.

EXPENSES

A story is told about a citizen whose daughter is about to be married, and who has been trying to get a line on what the expense of the rather elaborate ceremony will be.  He approached a friend of his, seeking information.

“Morris,” he said, “your oldest daughter was married about five years ago, wasn’t she?  Would you mind telling me about how much the wedding cost you?”

“Not at all, Sam,” was the answer.  “Altogether, about five thousand dollars a year.”

Here is a story of the late Lord Haversham’s schooldays.  Glancing through his pocket book his mother saw a number of entries of small sums, ranging from 2s. 6d. to 5s., against which were the letters “P.G.”  Thinking this must mean the Propagation of the Gospel, she asked her son why he did not give a lump sum and a larger amount to so deserving a cause.

“That is not for the Propagation of the Gospel,” he replied.  “When I cannot remember exactly on what I spend the money I put ‘P.G.,’ which means ‘Probably grub.’”

“Don’t you find it hard these times to meet expenses?”

“Hard?  Man alive!  I meet expenses at every turn.”

EXPERIENCE

“Did you ever realize anything on that investment?”

“Oh, yes.”

“What did you realize on it?”

“What a fool I had been.”

It is as easy to buy experience as it is difficult to sell it.

“Have you ever had any experience in handling high-class ware?” asked a dealer in bric-a-brac of an applicant for work.

“No, sir,” was the reply, “but I think I can do it.”

“Suppose,” said the dealer, “you accidentally broke a very valuable porcelain vase, what would you do?”

“I should put it carefully together,” replied the man, “and set it where a wealthy customer would be sure to knock it over again.”

“Consider yourself engaged,” said the dealer.  “Now, tell me where you learned that trick of the trade.”

“A few years ago,” answered the other, “I was one of the ‘wealthy-customer’ class.”

Experience is a dead loss if you can’t sell it for more than it cost.

Experience converts us to ourselves when books fail us.—­A.  Bronson Alcott.

  I know
  The past and thence I will essay to glean
  A warning for the future, so that man
  May profit by his errors, and derive
  Experience from his folly;
  For, when the power of imparting joy
  Is equal to the will, the human soul
  Requires no other heaven.