her a closed book. She was unable to get into the swing of things because she was never in touch with the business.

It may seem far-fetched to include a trip through the establishment, with an explanation of its details of operation in the training of the private secretary. Yet this is a good beginning. This training can be excellently supplemented by a book which treats of the particular industry; by the catalogues, booklets, and other material prepared by the firm's advertising department; and by the executive's instruction as he works through the day's routine

Instructions by the Executive

The last is by far the most important in illuminating the business and its particular requirements, and it need not be at all formal and time-consuming. For much of it the executive need only do his thinking aloud. Since the secretary's most important duty concerns correspondence, the chief purpose of the instruction will be to teach the secretary to handle the bulk of the correspondence himself.

"Here's a customer who sets up one of our No. 2 Oil Kings," declares the executive, showing the secretary a letter he has just received, "only to find the fly-wheel broken to pieces. He'll be pretty anxious, don't you suppose, to get a new wheel, the same number R 3249, so he can get right to work? We'll express him one, at once." Executive dictates letter to customer.

"Now this order ought to go over to the shipping department this morning," he continues, "so they can get started on it." Dictates order.

"But what's going to become of our profits, Mr. Smith," he inquires, "if we let the railroad companies break up our machines like that? I guess you'd better make a copy of this letter for Mr. Jones, our claims man."

A day or two later the executive says, "Here's another

one of those complaints about an Oil King damaged in transit; this time it's this gear-wheel," pointing to a diagram of the engine in which its parts are numbered, K 3056. "Let's see, how'd we settle that other case?" he inquires in perplexity. The secretary volunteers most of the information, the executive supplying a detail here and there.

"Yes, yes," the manager says, "that's what we did. I guess you can handle this in the same way, yourself."

The secretary with a new sense of responsibility, consults certain carbons in the files and after a time has an excellent letter waiting to be signed.

"This letter to Thompson is all right," comments the executive when he comes to sign it. "That's the way to talk to our customers." Then he adds, "How about shipping and claims?"

The secretary is much confused. In his enthusiasm over the letter he has overlooked these entirely.

"Thompson out there on his farm wouldn't care much for your good letter unless he got that wheel, would he, Mr. Smith?" The executive laughs heartily; then he adds with seriousness "and as for the claims, if the company lost its profits it couldn't pay our salaries."

Thus the training goes on.

The Developing of Initiative and Responsibility

"But," someone objects, "such a nuisance! I could dictate the letters myself with far less time and trouble."

True, but shortsighted. The real issue here is not this one letter but tomorrow's letters, next week's letters, that interminable procession of letters which the secretary once trained can handle but which otherwise will tie the executive to his desk. From this, the correct point of view, training is as capital invested at compound interest.

Accordingly, the executive for a time keeps the secretary's

work under scrutiny, looking for errors and making suggestions particularly at the time of signing the letters. Mistakes will appear, and some letters, even under the reasonable leeway allowed every subordinate, will have to be retyped. Yet the scrutiny can gradually be relaxed. Before long his secretary is answering letters on which he has jotted, "Xpress K 3128," "O K," "Refer to Childs," or "Same terms as usual," and after a time even these brief directions are ren

dered unnecessary. It is the sense of responsibility placed upon the secretary, the knowledge that within reasonable limits his discretion has full sway but that the employer has confidence in his judgment, which stirs his initiative and makes him feel competent to render most valuable service.

The Complaint that Secretaries Do Not Think

"But," the objector interposes once more, "all this is assuming that the secretary is unusually brilliant. Now in my experience, while I would not go so far as to say they are without brains, the average secretary does not think. 'Think! think!' I have had to tell one secretary after another."

Let us analyze this complaint which has been voiced in one form or another by many executives-the detailed and reiterated directions these secretaries require, their lack of insight into the day's work. It is granted that no brief could be maintained for all private secretaries; their ranks have been invaded by the incompetent and all are human. But as a rule the failure to get things done as the executive wants them is because he does not know himself what he wants, consistently. It is the lack of system, of standards, which is really to blame for the tangle, since the whim of the moment, and not a clear-cut standard, determines whether the typing or the choice of letterhead is to please him.

In order to satisfy the unsystematic man the secretary must be a mind reader.

The Unsystematic Man Hard to Satisfy

Many secretaries, it is true, are adept in this art. When the look of boredom on the employer's face has darkened into just the proper shade, they deftly interrupt the caller and maneuver him towards the door. When the employer comes in full of "pep," they bring out loads of work, but in sizable lots; when he is on "fag ends," they side-track the irritating complaint.

To get the most benefit from a secretary's services the wise executive will himself lead the way in co-operation. By utilizing various short-cut methods and standardizing his own part of the team's procedure he can save the secretary's time and strength; this means economical operation.

William A. Field Defines Executive Success

Some business men, it is true, do not wish to standardize their own operations, just as some others do not know how to delegate work. Yet it is precisely the exercise of these two arts, delegating and standardizing, which is the executive's business.

"Analyze the career of the successful business manager," says William A. Field of the Illinois Steel Company, “and you will find that he has done two things: by elimination and selection he has fitted competent men to the places at which the work focuses; by system he has so shifted detail to the shoulders of subordinates as still to keep the essential facts under his own hand."

A Training School for the Coming Executive

There are few positions, indeed, which do not afford some opportunity to practice the two activities specified by Superintendent Field as the essentials of executive success. Even the young manager whose force is but a corporal's guard, even the beginner in business who dictates a few letters to a

stenographer, has the opportunity of fitting people to places where the work focuses and of shifting detail to the shoulders of subordinates so as still to keep the essential facts under his own hand.

The man who trains himself to work effectively with but a single subordinate is at the same time developing his power as an executive. The vast bulk of tasks, termed collectively the firm's business, he later will become able to subdivide and delegate as he now does the work heaped upon his office desk. The principle is simple, yet its influence is most far reaching upon the executive's daily accomplishment and his ultimate achievement.

EXERCISES

The Waste of Petty Annoyances

A drizzle of petty annoyances always irritated the late Cyrus H. McCormick, although he could stand undaunted under a cloudburst of adversity. Superfluous words in a telegram, a bill a few cents. too large, the loss of a carpet slipper, were things which made him storm. "He made more fuss over a pin-prick," declared one of his valets, "than he did over a surgical operation."

Do the petty odds and ends of business get on your nerves?

Is all the energy with which you come down to the office used up on trifling matters, leaving you irritated with yourself and all your co-workers?

Are important initiatives and decisions side-tracked and lost sight of while the devil of routine rules you with his iron fork? Delegate to subordinates these routine tasks, and hold the subordinates responsible for their stewardship.

Important and Unimportant Tasks

In carrying out this plan the executive is called upon to distinguish between important and unimportant tasks. As William James. points out, what makes a thing important or unimportant to a man is something which no rules can teach in advance. Still, a pretty safe guide is to keep your chief purpose in mind for use as a stand