| Show great demand for folks who think clearly by CRAIG 0 HAZLEWOOD president american bankers association anly ONLY half a century ago michael a shepherd boy 1 I guarded his flocks by night among the fields of serbia thieves often lurked in the bordering cornfields awaiting an opportunity port unity to make off with a part of the herd serbian boys were taught a method of signalling sign alling one another for warning and help each carried a knife with a long wooden handle which he would thrust deep into the ground and in case cattle thieves approached he would strike the wooden handle the sound would be transmitted through the ground to other boys some di distance away who could haarand hear he arand and interpret the message why is it asked his mother that we can signal this way why is it the sound can be heard through the ground but not through the air why is it the signals can be heard in the pasture land so much better than in ih the plowed fields the boys mother could not answer his questions CRAIG a nor could the village teacher however having an eager mind and great de termination the boy decided to go to america where he might win an education and find out the answers to these and other perplexing questions hundreds of other under the circumstances and with the same set of conditions merely accepted these things without once questioning them just because they had always done them that way theland of education and success so a penniless Immigrant boy from serbia at the age of fifteen landed in new york in 1874 and years later having worked his way through columbia university concentrated the wonder and simpli simplicity citi ot of his mind upon the problem of sound which had puzzled him as a shepherd boy the results of his thinking what he has accomplished tor for the long distance telephone and tor for radio commit communication ni by his are known the world over it during the past twenty two years this company had been compelled to do without orie one invention in of michael an official 1 0 of the american telephone and telegraph company once said and yet give the samo same service it is giving today it would have had to spend at least more than it has expended these inventions in which millions ot of dollars ot of capital have been invested were the result ot of the thinking ot of a mere country lad who had the simplicity to wonder the determination to know and the power to apply what he be learned stimulating the imagination and thinking Is the greatest purpose ot of education uca tion what american business needs more than anything else is young men and women to think individuals who are not mentally anchored 0 to o tradition who do not merely appropriate other peoples ideas but who are hard purposeful thinkers independent and unprejudiced with the ability to concentrate and strike straight tor for the heart ot of a problem business needs folk who think america has astounded the world by its readiness in casting aside traditional viewpoints disregarding traditional difficulties and pioneering new shortcut formulas in the realm of business business Is undergoing epochal changes business problems are crowding in upon us so rapidly that the executive knows not where to look tor for adequate help or relief with the enormous increase in size and intricacy of business affairs the problems have become so complicated and the mats maca of information necessary to their solution so great that the days are not long enough the demand tor for managerial and executive ability is rushing 1 ahead the opportunity tor for young men and women who have the professional training and who develop genuine thinking powei Is greater than ever all business the same crying need forthe for the men who see clearly and think conclusively wherever we look manufacturing wholesaling retailing banking financing new forces tire are at work vast movements are under way and executives are seeking light upon perplexing problems dally daily let us its consider briefly the five essentials senti als af a sound thinker it if I 1 were looking tor for a young man of exceptional promise I 1 should hope first to find in him the simplicity to wonder every great advancement in business has been made by men who dared to wonder who had bad the courage to inquire into present procedure and who had the allda audacity city to ask whether something that had been done a certain way ay for or a long time might not be wrong although the history of americas progress from its very discovery to the present time has shown the value of an inquiring mind there Is still in inevitable tendency in most men to accept in a docile manner the opinions methods supposed facts procedures and processes of the past with due du reverence to the effort tho the spirit the accomplishments ol of the past let us qs maket our rule that everything ery thing be looted at with the clear questioning ronit ot the scientist business requires an open mind second among the essentials tor for sound thinking I 1 would write down an open mind we have mentioned free ing our minds from the influence of tradition let us think also without prejudice ot of personal feelings le de sires or consequence le let t us seek only the truth mere surface reason ing must be dl discounted counted old ean ts and bonts don ts must be thrown into the discard A man who has an open mind will doa do a great many things be cause he be know they cant be done the third essential to sound think ing Is knowledge a thorough corn co m understanding of all the factors involved in a problem it hat has been said that roost most problems answer themselves when the facts have been gathered A well known student and teacher of business describes the method of attacking a problem as tear ing it down reassembling the lem and drawing the conclusion there can be nothing but guess work or intuition unless the unknown quan titles are discovered As a fourth essential sound think ing requires the capacity to general ize how often we have seen men sweating and confused before a mass of details which they were utterly un able to classify and crystallize we have the problem of sorting out the relevant attaining a perspective and reaching a conclusion that can be de tended against any attack to tain minds this procedure comes natu rally to others training in the tion of complicated problems points the way out the time for action fifth among the essentials of sound thinking la Is the power to apply A few individuals have minds that travel at random or in circles some have minds that even refuse to budge but there are still others who naturally or through training have minds that can be directed straight through to the practical application of their thoughts they refuse to compromise or to be thwarted in purpose before definite application of their ideas has been achieved it is possible I 1 believe for or young people to train themselves to an in qui stive attitude an open mind and the ability to classify and interpret material step by step from the begin ning of a problem to its final solution and application here then Is the thought I 1 would leave the paramount need of business Is sound thinking some may think I 1 have overstated the case have set too high a standard they may feel that they are herwy cogs in a machine that too Is a part of the problem the only way to so solve ive that Is to find time and place in the days work for or thinking |
