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Show j ; j IPavheCaimme Appreciation Pays Off TODAY'S PIECE is for those in authority who find that dis-ciplinary dis-ciplinary measures have failed. And it comes to you from experts in handling people. The first principle that every one of these experts propounds, in different words, of course, is that unless a person is happy in what you have persuaded him to do you are get- ung only du per cent etticiency. William James, eminent professor of Harvard Har-vard University, seemed to have thought that you can best get the most out of a person, that you can the most easily persuade him to "do it your way" by showing him appreciation, for said Mr. James, "The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated." Charles M. Schwab, one-time chairman of the board of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, said that the best way to influence people is by making them happy in what they are doing Carnejfie. is to "be hearty in approbation and lavish in praise." When Napoleon created the legion of honor, he did it to show his appreciation of his men. Did those men care about the bits of metal in the little crosses they received? Certainly not. But they did care about the approval of their emperor; they were happy in serving him; they craved his praise, and those little crosses were the symbol. Henry Clay Risner used Napoleon's technique when he wanted want-ed to influence the conduct of the American doughboy. He had been told by General James Harbord that in his opinion the two million American soldiers in France were the cleanest and most idealistic group of men with whom he had ever come in contact. So Henry Clay Risner took occasion to repeat that statement to those men time after time. It made them happy. He knew that that was a sure-fire way of inspiring them to be clean and ideal- . istic. One more: Warden Lawes, for 20 years Warden of Sing Sing prison, told me once that he had in nearly every instance found that when he treated a prisoner as if he were a gentleman and on the level, that man responded in kind. (And since every man, even though he may have committed a crime, has good in him,' he was truly at the time what the Warden seemed to believe him to be.) . So in dealing with people, with your children, with your helpers, help-ers, make them happy by treating them as if you expect the best of them, and you will be likely to get the best. |