Doing what has to be done!

CONTENTS

A Message to Garcia

Harry, the beggar on a London

bridge

We have the choice…

Have an objective

Problems, difficulties, obstacles

© Copyright by GEKA-Management Verlags AG, Glarus

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A Message to Garcia

During the war between Spain and the United States, in 1898, one of the
generals of the United States, Garcia, and his troops were encircled on the
island of Cuba.Garcia was forced to disappear in the jungle.Nobody knew
his hideout. He had no communication with the outside world. No mail, no
telegraph message could reach him. Yet, it was imperative for President
McKinley to get in touch with Garcia,and quick, to enter into peace
negotiations.

What to do?

One of the President’s assistants knew what to do:“I know a man who will
find Garcia. His name is Rowan.”

The President sent for Rowan and handed him a letter, saying: “Take this
message to General Garcia and bring me his answer.” Rowan
Yes, Mr. President,
answered: “Yes, Mr. President, it will be done!” it will be done!

How Rowan took the letter, sealed it up in an oilskin pouch, strapped it over
his heart,in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open
boat, disappeared into the jungle and in three weeks came out on the other
side of the island having traversed a hostile country on foot and delivered
his letter to Garcia … are things we need not go into in detail here.

The essential point for us is that Rowan, when taking the letter, merely
said: “Yes, Mr. President, it will be done!”That was all. He asked no Instead of asking
questions:Where is Garcia? How do I get onto the island? Shall I hire a questions, Rowan
boat or buy one? How does one go about searching for a man in the jungle concentrated
who is doing everything to conceal his identity? How do I get through the on finding the answers!
enemy lines without being caught? Where do I get the money to pay for the
journey? McKinley gave Rowan a job to do and left it up to him to find the
answers to all the questions involved, for he knew only too well that he
could never foresee all the situations with which Rowan would be faced.

This story, which might seem a little extraordinary, appeared in the March,
1899, “Philistine Magazine” together with the following comment. It has
been translated into practically every language. To date, over 40 million
copies of “A Message to Garcia” have been printed.

But let us see what the author of the article in the “Philistine Magazine”
wrote:

In all this Cuban business there is one man who stands out on the horizon
of my memory like Mars at Perihelion.

Really, there is a man whose form should be cast in bronze and the statue
placed in every university, in every college of the land. It is not book
learning that young people need,not instruction about all possible subjects.
What they need is a stiffening of the vertebrae, the strength of character
which will cause them to be loyal to their work, to concentrate their
energies, to act,to go up to a matter… to carry a message to Garcia!
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People who make an effort today to carry out an enterprise where many
hands are needed, the hands of others, will be appalled at times by the
imbecility of the average people,the inability or unwillingness to concentrate
on a thing and do it.

Condemnable indifference, sloppiness, inattention and half-hearted work

are nothing unusual, and the enterprise is doomed to failure unless the
patron forces the employees by force and trick, by threat and bribery to do
their job; unless God in His goodness performs a miracle and sends an
angel to assist.

Do you want to give it a try?

You are sitting in your office, six assistants are within call.You call one of
them and tell him/her:“Please look in the encyclopaedia and make a brief
statement concerning the life of Correggio.”

Will your assistant quietly say “OK”and go do the task? Never! The assistant
will look at you out of a fishy eye and ask, for certain, one or more of the
following questions:Who is Correggio? – Where is the encyclopaedia? –
Which encyclopaedia? – Was I hired for that? – Don’t you mean Bismarck?
– What’s the matter with Charlie doing it? – Shan’t I bring you the book and
let you look it up yourself? – What do you need it for?

And I will lay you ten to one that after you have patiently answered all the
questions and explained how to find the information and why you want it,
the assistant will go off and get one of the other assistants to help him/her
try to find Correggio and then come back and tell you there is no such man.

Have I lost my bet?

If you are wise you will not bother to explain to your assistant that Correggio
is indexed under the C’s,not in the K’s. On the contrary, you will smile
sweetly and say:“Never mind.”And then you will go and look it up yourself.

This incapacity for independent action, this moral stupidity, this infirmity of
the will, this unwillingness to cheerfully catch hold and lift are the things that
put co-operation so far into the future. If people will not act for themselves,
how could they act for others? What will they do when the benefit of their
effort is for all?

Without supervisor with knotted club it probably won’t work. Being afraid of
getting “the bounce”holds many workers to their place. – Advertise for a
typist, and nine out of ten who apply can neither spell nor punctuate … and
do not regard it as important. How can such people carry a message to
Garcia?
In every business, in every company, in every factory there is a constant
weeding-out process going on. The employer is constantly sending
away people who have shown their incapacity to further the interests of
the company. Others are being hired.No matter how good times are, this
sorting continues. If times are hard and work is scarce, the sorting is done
finer. – Away with the do-nothing! – Away with the incompetent! Only the
Only the best will survive.
best will survive. Self-interest prompts every employer to keep the best,
those who could carry a message to Garcia.

Their heart and their respect go out to the people who do their work
whether the boss is around or not; and to those who, when given a letter
for Garcia,quietly take the missive,without asking any stupid questions and
with no lurking intention of chucking it into the nearest sewer or of doing
aught else but deliver it.Such people won’t be dismissed, they don’t have to
bargain for more money or even to go on strike. They are wanted in every
country, city, town and village – in every office,shop,store and factory.The
world cries out for such people:They are needed, badly needed – people
who carry a message to Garcia! Doing what has to be done!

Those of us with high ambitions have to set out into the “jungle of Cuba” on
foot to this day; we have to complete our order, to accomplish our mission
in spite of all difficulties, tribulations and setbacks.

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 Harry, the beggar on a London bridge

The story of Harry, the beggar on a London bridge, is a success story.*

*

A young man was standing on one of London’s bridges. Let us call him
Harry. It was during the depression, and he was unemployed. He had tried
everything, without success. No one had an opening for him, and so as not
to die of hunger he finally decided to take up begging.

One day,somebody tapped him on the shoulder.It was a youngish,well

dressed businessman who said to Harry:“Young man, I won’t give you a
Make yourself useful! penny.But I’ll give you some advice that’s worth more than any money:
Make yourself useful!”And without another word, the man walked on.

We can imagine just how the beggar felt. “Make yourself useful? Haven’t I
tried everything before resorting to this? Haven’t I registered at any number
of employment agencies, only to get the same answer: ‘No vacancies’.
Useful? That’s what I want! If only I knew how! If only somebody needed
me!”

Harry was still lost in thought about being useful when an old woman
crossed the bridge. She was pulling a little cart stacked high with tobacco
cases.Every now and then she would stop to push the cases back in place.
Harry was struck as if by lightning. Make yourself useful! Wasn’t this his
chance? Actually,all he had tried to do so far was to find a job, not really to
make himself useful; he had wanted a job to earn a living. Harry scurried
after the woman. He pushed the cart and kept an eye on the cases,pushing
them back in place whenever they were about to fall down.

They had not got very far when the old woman stopped and walked up to
him.

Did she thank him with tears in her eyes because she was profoundly
touched by his helpfulness? No! Something else happened. The old
woman told him to go away.Why?

Because the unselfish wish to help is just about the last thing we expect
from anyone. Sad but true!

Harry, however, was not easily discouraged. He pacified the old

woman, making her understand that he was going the same way and just
wanted to be helpful;finally,she gave in.They carried on and came to a
warehouse, where Harry helped to unload the cases.

At the warehouse, Harry saw other men busy loading railway wagons.
When he noticed one particular man was having trouble with a big, heavy
case, he immediately gave a hand and continued to help loading the
wagons. He was following the advice he had received.

* A friend of Harry’s, sales director of an international group, told it to the author.

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It did not take long for the foreman to come along. He had noticed the
stranger, and his reaction was short and to the point. “Clear off, we don’t
need you!” But then, he looked the young man in the eye and on a sudden
impulse asked him: “How long have you been doing this? Come along to
the pay-office, we’ll pay you for the work you’ve done. Then shove
off.There’s no job here for you!”

On his way home, Harry was rather pensive, puzzled by his experience. He
hadn’t had as much money in his pocket for weeks. It seemed that the
precept did not work too badly!

The next day, Harry felt quite enterprising, and he wondered how he might
continue on his new path. He could only think of going back to the
warehouse and seeing whether possibly they were again loading railway
wagons, but they were not. During the weeks that followed, he returned
daily to the warehouse to lend a hand now and then, at least for a couple
of hours. One day, the foreman came up to him and told him that one of
the older men had died.If he wanted,he could have the job. Harry accepted,
and his guiding principle remained: “Make yourself useful under all
circumstances and at all times.”

We don’t need to tell the whole story of Harry.You will hardly be surprised
to learn that Harry, the beggar on a London bridge, became the General
Manager of one of the largest shipping and warehousing firms in London,
the firm he originally entered by way of his “make yourself useful” principle.
It worked all the way up, from workman to foreman, manager and general
manager.

The moral of the story? Make yourself useful!

Make yourself useful, don’t wait to be asked! As Mark Twain said: “Don’t go
around saying the world owes you a living.The world owes you nothing. It
was here first.”

Indeed, to do what is required of us without ever failing is a great

achievement. But over and above this, to try to be useful at all times and
under all circumstances, is a power capable of melting icebergs, of
extinguishing volcanoes and of moving mountains.

You don’t believe in the different chances of success of people who want to
make themselves useful and people who think of nothing but their own
concerns?

A man having stomach trouble went to two doctors. Both made the same
diagnosis and both gave the same advice;but they didn’t word the advice in
the same way:

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 Doctor A said: “Don’t worry. Your disease can be medicated or eliminated
by surgery. I presume you are interested in eliminating it once and for all;
so I suggest surgery.Three weeks later you will be fighting fit and, as far as
anyone can tell, totally cured of your disease.”

Doctor B said: “Don’t worry. Your disease can be medicated or eliminated

To whom have you by surgery. I presume you are interested in eliminating it once and for all;
consciously made so I suggest surgery. By the way, I’m interested in this solution myself
yourself useful so far because we want to test a new surgical technique.”
today?
Which of the two doctors would you trust?

Is your reaction:“That’s been my attitude all along.Why, it’s natural!”

(Congratulations!) But don’t be disappointed if you reach a very different
conclusion in the course of this training. Such an approach is anything but
natural and matter of course.That’s just why anyone who deliberately
adopts and follows this policy is bound to have a head start.

Let us observe people around us from this angle. Of course, “Make

yourself useful” must not be equated with “Make use of someone”.

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We have the choice…

In New York until quite recently, there were typesetters who did a very
strange job. They worked eight hours a day, and their main job was to set
advertisements. You will say: “Well, what’s strange about that?”– But the
story has a twist to it:

For several years,the work these typesetters did was also done by a fully
automatic machine, and in one tenth of the time!

Yes, the work of those typesetters did not make the slightest sense.
Every text they set was immediately destroyed.For several years,these
people went to work every day and for eight hours did something that
made no sense and was completely useless. The only purpose of the work
was to get paid at the end of the week. Because of a powerful
union,people who were perfectly healthy continued to be employed on a
completely outdated job.

But just imagine the enthusiasm those typesetters invested in their work!
Why did they do it? Certainly not for the management, not for the union
and not for the sake of being useful! They did it for one reason only –
money!

This is an extreme example of a particular type of wage-earner, of people

who put up with everything: with a disagreeable manager,with a job that
means nothing, with exhaustion, with having to crawl, with having to go
against their own convictions.And all this for material gain, for a wage,for
the prospect of a bonus, a promotion or a retirement pension.

How different from the life of a scientist, an artist or an athlete! People of

high ambitions are like mountain climbers who work their way up a
precipitous wall of solid rock to experience both challenge and victory.

Possibly you will say:“That’s all very well for a scientist, an artist or an
athlete. I am in a very different situation, because I am caught on the
treadmill of everyday life, and I can’t escape my responsibilities.” We have the choice…

You are right.We all run the risk of having to “endure” our jobs, possibly
because we really have no other choice than to stay where we are, to grin
and bear it.However,there is much food for thought here.If we do not like
our job, if we have no reason to be proud of our work, if we suffer in our
profession, we will never do our best. And the company for which we
…between passive
work will take no real interest in us either.
suffering and active
influence!
In whose shoes would you rather be? In those of the New York typesetter
or in those of a person who accepts the challenge of life – a mentally and
physically healthy, dynamic person? Everyone of us is free to choose…
You doubt it? – Not everybody is free to become an artist, a doctor or a
mountain climber, admittedly. But everybody has the free choice of passive
suffering or active influence. We are offered this choice every day, every
hour.That’s the choice we have!

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 That is the choice everybody has. People who shirk this choice should
not be surprised to find themselves in the role of the suffering individual. To
quote Winston Churchill: “It’s not only a matter of doing what we want, but
of setting to and doing what has to be done with energy and enthusiasm!”

The Bible gives expression to the alternatives in our life very clearly: “If
your right eye bothers you, pull it out!” The motto is not: “Put up with your
destiny and don’t try anything to eliminate your suffering.” On the contrary!
“If your right eye bothers you, pull it out!”

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Have an objective

Hundreds of athletes throughout the world are engaged in constant training

for the next Olympics. Not one of these men and women will shirk daily
training on the excuse: “I’ll do O.K. when the time comes. After all I still
have several months, and I can well afford to slow down a little.”

What makes these athletes go through with their hard training over a
period of years? – The answer is simple enough:They have a goal which is
worth the effort – any effort!

There are people who know what they want, and there are others who
don’t know what they want because they don’t really want anything
definite. In other words:

a)There are people who have set themselves an objective in life, and
they make every effort to reach it.

b)There are people who have so little imagination that they cannot
even envisage a worthwhile goal.

To have an objective, to know what you want, is not a matter of will-

power, but a matter of imagination.

Who will be more successful in life? People who set out wholeheartedly to Have an objective worthy
reach a goal they consider worthwhile or those who see nothing in the of total commitment.
whole wide world they can be enthusiastic about?

There is no better way to cope with, and overcome “I” problems than to
have a tangible, worthwhile goal. Laotse said:

“Knowing your objective gives strength;

only strength leads to silence;
only silence leads to inner peace;
only inner peace allows serious and prudent thinking;
only serious and prudent thinking leads to success.”

An objective is like a lighthouse beam on a foggy night. It serves as a

signal of guidance and warning for us to keep to the direction we have
deliberately chosen – of our own free will.

“Have an objective!” This is also the essential condition for the successful
solution of “You” problems. People who know the road to be taken are in a
position to take the initiative and influence their own destiny.

“People so impressed by determined consistency that they will often

follow a lead before they know where they are going.”

Edgar Schumacher

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 Problems, difficulties, obstacles

Some of us may be thinking, all well and good:

– doing what has to be done;
– influencing actively instead of passively suffering;
– having an objective worthy of one’s total commitment.

But reality looks different!

What problems, difficulties and obstacles exist for those of us who go on

our way with our eyes open! Are there only good aspects, or do you also
know of others like fear, injustice, malice, stupidity, despondency and
pettiness? Modern economic and industrial specialisations ensure that
many creative impulses perish in the routine of business, and the one-
sidedness of modern work threatens to stifle the joyous courage of the
entrepreneur. Moreover, the speed of our age is now an illness.Who today
can find the peace and quiet to think anything through to the finish and let it
mature? The results of these difficulties are opinions instead of conviction
and doubts instead of beliefs. Many give up. They run away from
themselves and from their unsolved tasks and problems and throw
themselves into their work. Nervous breakdowns and heart attacks are
usually the last noticeable signposts along this road.

The world is not always stable! It is therefore all the more necessary to
consider what kind of attitude we should adopt towards problems,
difficulties and obstacles.

Which would you prefer – to see and recognise the existence of problems,
difficulties and obstacles, or have them exist without your being conscious
of them? It is important to be one of those who can see the problems!

Let us relish it if problems, difficulties and obstacles give us the chance to

sharpen our brain,develop our “sang froid”,test and advance our
intelligence and thoroughness!

But you can have too much of a good thing.To approach the problems,
difficulties and obstacles with a positive and determined attitude does not
mean jumping in with our eyes closed.Blind zeal only makes things worse!
Take one step at a time!
Let us assume that you want to break a bunch of 20 Chinese chopsticks
over your knee. You will probably succeed only in hurting your knee while
the chopsticks remain in excellent condition! The intention to break the
chopsticks can be carried out quite easily – not by trying to break the whole
lot at once – but by taking them one at a time and breaking them singly.

The lesson:One solves complex problems best by taking them to pieces

and then dealing with each part separately, exactly as one would handle
badly-behaved children.

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Good doctors are recognised by their skill at diagnosis. Normally, they do
not invent the medicine they give the patient, nor the method to be applied;
only the diagnosis:This is their signature.What use is it to prescribe
medicine for malaria if the fever is caused by a snakebite?

The same holds true for the problems, difficulties and obstacles that
confront us.

Correct
Let us follow the doctor’s example and first try to establish the nature of the
diagnosis is the
“illness” and then its exact cause.
key!
What is the nature of the problems, difficulties and obstacles in our
world?

Human willpower is like the propellant of a rocket. On the way to the target,
the rocket has to pierce three layers of “protective material”. These three
layers are composed of the following “material”(in the order in which the
rocket has to pierce them):

1. “I” obstacles (“I can’t!”)

For example:
Lack of determination, inactivity, fear, resignation, restlessness,
impatience, forgetfulness, poor concentration, etc.

2. “You” obstacles (“YOU don’t want to and/or YOU can’t!”)

For example:
The uninterested employee, the “impossible” customer, the difficult
manager; the stupidity and unreliability of our fellow men; the malice,
egotism, despondency, fear, indecision of the people with whom we work.

3. “It” obstacles (“IT won’t work!”)

For example:
For the architect: the calculations involved in designing a building.
For the chemist: the combination of different elements.
For the engineer: the tensile strength of a certain material.
For the organiser: the coordinaton of a manufacturing process in due time.

Obviously, the “I” and “You” problems are basically the same, the only
difference being the point of view taken.

The disinterested employee is a “You” problem for the manager; for

himself this condition is an “I” problem.

The indecisive, pessimistic customer is a “You” problem for the sales-

person and an “I” problem for the customer.
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 It can happen all too easily that one confuses “I” and “You” difficulties with
each other. So, perhaps, the apathetic, dissatisfied team member is – from
the manager’s point of view – less a “You” than an “I” problem. Perhaps! It
may be that this team member is a failure everywhere and always. But it
also may be that this employee is doing the wrong job or that the manager
is behaving wrongly towards him/her. Many so-called “difficult” team
members sooner or later find a manager to whom they willingly offer the
best performance!

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Which points in this text do I consider to be the most important ones …

… and what do they mean for me, in practice?

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