TRAINING FOR ACTION 77 



or for mathematics. Some have five talents and some have one. And 

 no one would expect a young man to earn his living by means of his 

 native musical ability without first training him to make full use of 

 that ability. An aptitude for figures does not mean that the possessor 

 does not need to study mathematics. That is probably what he should 

 study most diligently. Furthermore, the discovery of nature's gifts 

 of musical ability is not postponed until the talent is atrophied. The 

 fond parent seeks it early and eagerly develops even a minute resem- 

 blance of talent. Why, then, is it so frequent that young men go out 

 from school or college with no dream of their own potentialities a* 

 executives ? 



Specific illustrations are perhaps unnecessary, though one or two 

 may add force to the argument. A young man, after a fine record for 

 scholarship in high school, took up a course of scientific study in college. 

 He found the field so alluring that he went on to a university course, 

 taking his degree of Doctor of Philosophy with a careful and thorough 

 research requiring a marvelous technique of manipulation. So promis- 

 ing was his ability that a large corporation at once engaged him to 

 continue his work in a direction which meant much for the future of the 

 concern. The young man found himself suddenly in an embarrassing 

 situation. No longer was it necessary for him to spend hours search- 

 ing the scientific literature for the history of a certain process ; he need 

 only direct an assistant to do this for him. The tedious watching for 

 the results of an experiment was transferred to a subordinate. The 

 careful manipulation of materials could be taught to an eager stripling 

 whose idea of the significance of his work was at best vague and 

 narrow. In the meantime the young scientist found that the direction 

 in which he was inclined was not that of the executive, but that of the 

 student. In a word, his education had not prepared him for the work 

 expected of him. 



A rude awakening came for another young man who had recently 

 taken the degree of Civil Engineer. He could make long computations 

 of stresses in girders for steel work, he could lay out beautiful curves 

 for a railway line, but all his years of college had not trained him in the 

 very practical problem of keeping busy and happy a party of sixty addi- 

 tions to the melting pot, knights of the pick and shovel. Where do the 

 text-books state that a young engineer should never allow such an occa- 

 sion to arise that one of his dusky foremen calls him by the short and 

 ugly name, or that, the occasion having arisen, he should promptly apply 

 a sedative by means of a convenient pickaxe handle if he wishes to 

 maintain his self-respect and his job? 



It has been claimed that plenty of opportunity is already given in 

 school and college for the development of executive ability, both in the 

 curriculum and in outside activities, that those men who wish training 



