“Getting what you want from kings or statesmen,” De Blowitz said, “is all a matter of dining with the right people.” Through the power of his charming presence, his gracious manner, this famous journalist accomplished greater things at the dinner table, in the drawing-room or ball-room than any other newspaper man in Europe accomplished through letters of introduction, influence and special “pulls.” His popularity, his power to interest and please others, was his strongest asset.
The ability of Charles M. Schwab to make friends, his strong social qualities, his faculty for entertaining, for making himself agreeable, played a powerful part in his rapid advancement from a dollar-a-day job to the position of millionaire steel manufacturer. It was his social qualities which first drew Mr. Carnegie so strongly to him.
During the Homestead troubles, according to reports, young Schwab used to cheer Mr. Carnegie with humorous stories and the singing of Scottish ballads, and the iron master was always in better spirits after a visit from the young man.
There is no other one thing in such universal demand everywhere, in social life and in business, as the power to attract and please. A magnetic personality often commands a much bigger salary than great ability with a disagreeable personality.
I have in mind a young business man, with such a captivating manner, with such power to interest and please, that there are many firms in this country which would pay him a fabulous salary for his services.
We all like to do business, with people who attract us. If we could analyze cracker-jack salesmen in this country, we should find that they are men who have a fine magnetic personality. They are great “mixers,” they understand human nature. They are usually men of broad sympathies, are large-hearted, and of magnanimous natures.
“Diamond Jim” Brady—James Buchanan, he was christened,—is a shining example of the ultimate salesman. Mr. Brady has advanced himself to the position of selling rolling stock and supplies to railroads, and occasionally he sells entire railroads, making enormous fees as broker. He is perhaps the personification of “personality” and as a “mixer” he has no peer. His name is synonymous with “good fellow,” and his list of acquaintances is said to be as large as that of any other one man in New York.
There is something about one’s personality which eludes the photographer, which the painter cannot reproduce, which the sculptor cannot chisel. This subtle something which every one feels, but which no one can describe, which no biographer ever put down in a book, has a great deal to do with one’s success in life.