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pleasant smile, than to hire a doctor of philosophy with
a somber face.
The effect of a smile is powerful - even when it is
unseen. Telephone companies throughout the United
States have a program called  phone power which is
offered to employees who use the telephone for selling
their services or products. In this program they suggest
that you smile when talking on the phone. Your  smile
comes through in your voice.
Robert Cryer, manager of a computer department for a
Cincinnati, Ohio, company, told how he had successfully
found the right applicant for a hard-to-fill position:
 I was desperately trying to recruit a Ph.D. in computer
science for my department. I finally located a
young man with ideal qualifications who was about to
be graduated from Purdue University. After several
phone conversations I learned that he had several offers
from other companies, many of them larger and better
known than mine. I was delighted when he accepted my
offer. After he started on the job, I asked him why he
had chosen us over the others. He paused for a moment
and then he said:  I think it was because managers in the
other companies spoke on the phone in a cold, business-like
manner, which made me feel like just another business
transaction, Your voice sounded as if you were glad
to hear from me . . . that you really wanted me to be part
of your organization.  You can be assured, I am still answering
my phone with a smile.
The chairman of the board of directors of one of the
largest rubber companies  in the United States told me
that, according to his observations, people rarely succeed
at anything unless they have fun doing it. This
industrial leader doesn t put much faith in the old adage
that hard work alone is the magic key that will unlock
the door to our desires,  I have known people, he said,
 who succeeded because they had a rip-roaring good
time conducting their business. Later, I saw those people
change as the fun became work. The business had
grown dull, They lost all joy in it, and they failed.
You must have a good time meeting people if you expect
them to have a good time meeting you.
I have asked thousands of business people to smile at
someone every hour of the day for a week and then come
to class and talk about the results. How did it work?
Let s see. . . Here is a letter from William B. Steinhardt,
a New York stockbroker. His case isn t isolated. In fact,
it is typical of hundreds of cases.
 1 have been married for over eighteen years, wrote
Mr. Steinhardt,  and in all that time I seldom smiled at
my wife or spoke two dozen words to her from the time
I got up until I was ready to leave for business. I was
one of the worst grouches who ever walked down Broadway.
 When you asked me to make a talk about my experience
with smiles, I thought I would try it for a week. So
the next morning, while combing my hair, I looked at
my glum mug in the mirror and said to myself,  Bill, you
are going to wipe the scowl off that sour puss of yours
today. You are going to smile. And you are going to begin
right now. As I sat down to breakfast, I greeted my wife
with a  Good morning, my dear, and smiled as I said
it.
 You warned me that she might be surprised. Well,
you underestimated her reaction. She was bewildered.
She was shocked. I told her that in the future she could
expect this as a regular occurrence, and I kept it up every
morning.
 This changed attitude of mine brought more happiness
into our home in the two months since I started
than there was during the last year.
 As I leave for my office, I greet the elevator operator
in the apartment house with a  Good morning and a
smile, I greet the doorman with a smile. I smile at the
cashier in the subway booth when I ask for change. As I
stand on the floor of the Stock Exchange, I smile at people
who until recently never saw me smile.
 I soon found that everybody was smiling back at me,
I treat those who come to me with complaints or grievances
in a cheerful manner, I smile as I listen to them
and I find that adjustments are accomplished much easier.
I find that smiles are bringing me dollars, many dollars
every day.
 I share my office with another broker. One of his
clerks is a likable young chap, and I was so elated about
the results I was getting that I told him recently about
my new philosophy of human relations. He then confessed
that when I first came to share my office with his
firm he thought me a terrible grouch - and only recently
changed his mind. He said I was really human when I
smiled.
 I have also eliminated criticism from my system. I
give appreciation and praise now instead of condemnation.
I have stopped talking about what I want. I am now
trying to see the other person s viewpoint. And these
things have literally revolutionized my life. I am a totally
different man, a happier man, a richer man, richer in
friendships and happiness - the only things that matter
much after all.
You don t feel like smiling? Then what? Two things.
First, force yourself to smile. If you are alone, force yourself
to whistle or hum a tune or sing. Act as if you were
already happy, and that will tend to make you happy.
Here is the way the psychologist and philosopher William
James put it:
 Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and
feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which
is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly
regulate the feeling, which is not.
 Thus the sovereign voluntary path to cheerfulness, if
our cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully and to act [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]