The Victorious Attitude

by Orison Swett Marden

A young man who had been successful in Golden Rule management hearing of the situation saw in it a possible opening, and asked this man to give him a trial as manager before giving up his business altogether.

The result was, he was so pleased with him that in less than half an hour he had engaged him as manager, although he still insisted that it was a very doubtful experiment.

The first thing the new man did on taking charge was to call the employees in each department together and have a heart to heart talk with them. He told them that he had come there not only as a friend of the proprietor, but as their friend also, and that he would do everything in his power to advance their interests as well as those of the business. The house, he told them, had been losing money for years, and it was up to him and them to change all that and put the balance on the right side of the ledger. He made them see that harmony and coöperation are the basis of any real success for a concern and its employees.

From the start he was cheerful, hopeful, sympathetic, enthusiastic, encouraging. He quickly won the confidence and good will of everybody in the establishment, and had them all working as heartily for the success of the business as if it were their own. The place was like a great beehive, where all were industrious, happy, contented, working for the hive. So great was the change that customers began to talk about the new spirit in the house. Business grew and prospered, and in an incredibly short time, the concern was making instead of losing money.

Yet in many respects the new manager was not nearly as able as his employer, but he had a different spirit. He was animated by a belief in the brotherhood of man. He had sympathy, tact, diplomacy, and a real personal interest in those who worked under him. He never scolded them when they did not do right; he simply talked with them like an elder brother and made them ashamed of themselves. He showed them there was a better way, and they followed it. In short, he won their love and respect and they would do anything for him.

The Golden Rule method had driven out hate, selfishness, greed and dissension. The interests of all were centered on the general welfare, and so all prospered. When the proprietor returned from abroad, whither he had gone for a few months' rest and recuperation, he could scarcely believe in the reality of the transformation that "love's way" had effected in his old employees and in the entire establishment.

You who have been tortured and torn to pieces for years with hot tempers, with worry, with fear, with hatred and ill will; you who have already committed suicide on many years of your life, why not turn your back on all this and try love's way? So far your life has been a disappointment. There must be a better way for all who bear the scars and stains of strife, who have been battered and buffeted by the old evil way, in which there has been no rest, no harmony, no sweetness. Why not try love's way? Try it for every trouble, for every hurt and sorrow.

Try it you whose home life has been a bitter disappointment; you husbands and wives who have quarreled, who have never known what peace and comfort are, try love's way. It will smooth out all your wrinkles, it will put a new spirit into your home that was never there before, it will bring a new light into your eyes, new hope into your heart, and new joy into your life.

You mothers who have worn yourselves to a frazzle and prematurely aged yourselves in trying to bring up your children by scolding, nagging, punishing, driving, why not try love's way instead? You can love your boys and girls into obedience and respect much more quickly and with far better results to them and to yourself than by driving them; appeal to their best and noblest instincts instead of their worst, and you will be surprised how quickly and readily they will respond to your appeal. There is something in human nature which protests against being driven or forced. If you have been trying to force your boys and girls in the past, give it up and try the new way, love's way. See if it does not work wonders in your home. See if it will not make your domestic machinery run much more smoothly. See if it will not wonderfully relieve the strain upon yourself. Give love's way a trial.

Try it, you fault-finding, scolding housewife. Instead of nagging your family, fretting and stewing from morning till night, blaming, upbraiding, complaining, try love's way. Instead of berating a maid before your guests when she accidentally breaks a piece of china, put yourself in her place, try to realize her embarrassment, and pass over the mishap cheerfully. Then, in private, give her a gentle word of caution. She will be more careful in the future. If your laundress returns a piece of smirched linen, or if her work is not quite so well done as it was the last time, don't give her a brutal scolding. Harsh treatment will only make her sullen and unhappy, but you will find her susceptible to kindness and gentle words.