Charles M. Schwab
My own experience is that there is no real effort in life that is not done better under encouragement and approval of our fellow men.
A man, to carry on a successful business, must have imagination. He must see things as in a vision, a dream of the whole thing. A man can cultivate this faculty only by an appreciation of the finer things in life.
In our works at Bethlehem and San Francisco, and all over the United States, I adopted this system: I pay the managers practically no salary. I make them partners in the business, only I don't let them share in the efforts of any other man.
Concentrate and think upon the problem in mind until a satisfactory conclusion is reached, and then finally go ahead. If you have made a mistake, all right. Never find fault with a man because he has made a mistake. It is only a fool that makes the same mistake the second time.
The hardest struggle of all is to be something different from what the average man is. I don't believe in 'super-men,' for the world is full of capable men, but it's the fellow with determination that wins out.
A concern that produces its own raw materials, and works them up through the various processes until it delivers the manufactured product in the domestic or foreign market, can work on a narrower margin all around, and yet do full justice to its stockholders and employees.
I'm making better than two million a year, but it's hard work. The luxuries and pleasures I enjoy in my spare time keep me in condition to do that work. Carnegie and Frick have more money than I have, but I'm getting more value for my dollars than they are.
We make our own labor unions. We organize our labor into units of 300, and then the representatives of these 300 meet together every week. Then every fortnight they meet with the head men.
The fundamental principles of prosperity in every country are so well understood that they need but little if any discussion. They are so simple that with the proper cooperative action the American people collectively can easily place this wonderful country of ours in the position that it is so well qualified to hold among the nations of the world.
Fundamentally, the basis of all modern progress is the efficiency of labor. And the only sure road to restored prosperity is through the thrift and hard work of our people as a whole.
Our efforts must be bent in the direction of convincing the great mass of working people of this country of the necessity of our winning and retaining our place in business and commerce. That place can be won only through the workers' own efforts and through their own efficiency.
We hear much of Bolshevism, much of labor unrest; at times, we hear the word 'revolution.' But these are but contagious diseases in the body of civilization, and I believe that the antitoxins of good cheer, mutual confidence, fairness and justice will ultimately cure these ills and make the world healthy and strong again.
About all that is needed to put the world on its feet are the right qualities of mind and heart on the part of all men.
In the long run, no nation can prosper unless the world prospers.
I mention the need of cooperation and confidence among the men who work, no matter what may be their relative ranks, because it is the vital factor underlying everything. Only as we are willing to work today, work as we never have worked before, will civilization survive.
The difference between getting somewhere and nowhere is the courage to make an early start. The fellow who sits still and does just what he is told will never be told to do big things.Collection: Motivational
Good morning! Remember: A person can succeed at almost anything for which they have unlimited enthusiasm.Collection: Good Morning
A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband, while a man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.Collection: Husband
A man to carry on a successful business must have imagination. He must see things in a vision, a dream of the whole thing.Collection: Success
Be friends with everybody. When you have friends you will know there is somebody who will stand by you. You know the old saying, that if you have a single enemy you will find him everywhere. It doesn't pay to make enemies. Lead the life that will make you kindly and friendly to every one about you, and you will be surprised what a happy life you will live.Collection: Friendship
The man who counts his hours and kicks about his salary is a self-elected failure.Collection: Men
In my wide association in life, meeting with many and great men in various parts of the world, I have yet to find the man, however great or exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than he would ever do under a spirit of criticism.Collection: Men
When you go into your customary barber shop, you will wait for the man who gives you a little better shave, a little trimmer hair-cut. Business leaders are looking for the same things in their offices that you look for in the barber shop.Collection: Cutting
Don't be afraid of imperilling your health by giving a few extra hours to the company that pays your salary!Collection: Giving
Work hard. Hard work is the best investment a man can make.Collection: Hard Work
The man who attracts attention is the man who is thinking all the time, and expressing himself in little ways. It is not the man who tries to dazzle his employer by doing the theatrical, the spectacular.Collection: Men
The men who miss success have two general alibis: 'I'm not a genius' is one; and the other, 'There aren't the opportunities today there used to be'.Collection: Opportunity
I disagreed with Carnegie's ideas on how best to distribute his wealth. I spent mine!Collection: Ideas
Keeping a little ahead of conditions is one of the secrets of business; the trailer seldom goes far.Collection: Business
One of the most successful men I have known never carried a watch until he began to earn ten thousand dollars a year.Collection: Successful
You can never really get away - - you can only take yourself somewhere else.Collection: Somewhere Else
I thought and dreamed of nothing else but the steel works.Collection: Steel
If you must be a glutton, be a glutton for work.Collection: Ifs
If more persons would get so enthused over their day's work that some one would have to remind them to go out to lunch there would be more happiness in the world and less indigestion.Collection: Lunch
The inventor, the man with a unique, specialized talent, is the only real super-genius. But he is so rare that he needs no consideration.Collection: Real
I am not a believer in large salaries. I hold that every man should be paid for personal production. Our big men at Bethlehem seldom get salaries of over one hundred dollars a week; but all of them receive bonuses computed entirely on the efficiencies and the economies registered in their departments.Collection: Men
What we must seek is a plan by which the men will receive high wages when the employers are receiving high prices for the product.Collection: Men
A factory can be closed down, its chimneys smokeless, waiting for the worker to come back to his job, and all will be peaceful. But the moment workers are imported, and the striker sees his own place usurped, there is bound to be trouble.Collection: Jobs
We have reached in this country an amazing degree of general prosperity, with American business on the whole no longer facing an uphill climb.Collection: Country
The thing that most people call 'genius' I do not believe in.Collection: Believe
The truth is that we have hitherto made no genuine effort to produce forged steel working parts of automobiles of the highest quality. That is one of the reasons why our automobiles have not ranked with those of foreign make.Collection: Effort
The real test of business greatness is in giving opportunity to others.Collection: Real
The man who fails to give fair service during the hours for which he is paid is dishonest. The man who is not willing to give more than this is foolish.Collection: Men
I have yet to hear an instance where misfortune hit a man because he worked overtime. I know lots of instances where it hit men who did not.Collection: Men
For my own part I am more interested in my work than its mere money value.Collection: Mere
It may be in seemingly unimportant things that a man expresses his passion for perfection, yet they will count heavily in the long run.Collection: Running
Every one's got it in him, if he'll only make up his mind and stick at it. None of us is born with a stop-valve on his powers or with a set limit to his capacities, There's no limit possible to the expansion of each one of us.Collection: Persistence
Nothing is more fatal to success than taking one's job as a matter of course.Collection: Jobs
The captains of industry are not hunting money. America is heavy with it. They are seeking brains - specialized brains - and faithful, loyal service. Brains are needed to carry out the plans of those who furnish the capital.Collection: Hunting