It makes not so much difference where you are as who you are. But if you cannot get rich in Philadelphia you certainly cannot do it in New York.
第一章 You Get an Office Full of Crackerjacks
乔治·H·洛里默：让身边的员工成为精英
George H. Lorimer/乔治·H·洛里默
Health is like any inheritance—you can spend the interest in work and play，but you mustn’t break into the principal. Once you do，and it’s only a matter of time before you’ve got to place the remnants in the hands of a doctor as receiver.
It’s a mighty simple thing，though，to keep in good condition because about everything that makes for poor health has to get into you right under your nose.
Bad health hates a man who is friendly with its enemies. More men die from worry than from overwork，more stuff themselves to death than die of starvation. If the human animal reposed less confidence in his stomach and more in his legs，the streets would be full of healthy men walking down to business. Remember that a man always rides to his grave，he never walks there.
When I was a boy，the only doubt about the food was whether there would be enough of it. I dwell on this matter of health，because when the stomach and liver aren’t doing good work，the brain can’t.
A good many men will say that it’s none of your business what they do in their own time，but you want to make it your business，so long as it affects what they do in your time. For this reason，you should never hire men who drink after office hours. It may have been the case once that when you opened up a bottle for a customer he opened up his heart，but booze is a mighty poor salesman nowadays. Most of the men who mixed their business and their drinks have failed.
Naturally，when you expect so much from your men，they have a right to expect a good deal from you. If you want them to feel that your interests are theirs，you must let them see that their interests are yours. There are a lot of fellows in the world who are working just for glory，but they are mostly poets，and you needn’t figure on finding many of them out at the Stock Yards. Praise goes a long way with a good man，and some employers stop there.
Of course，the world is full of horses who won’t work except with the whip，but that’s no reason for using it on those who will.
A lot of people think that adversity and bad treatment is the test of a man，and it is—when you want to develop his strength；but prosperity and good treatment is a better one when you want to develop his weakness. By keeping those who show their appreciation of it and firing those who don’t，you get an office full of crackerjacks.
The men who stay in the office and plan are the brains of your business；those who go out and sell are its arms；and those who fill and deliver the orders are its legs. There’s no use in the brains scheming and the arms gathering in，if the legs are going to deliver the goods with a kick.
拥有健康就如同拥有了一笔宝贵的财产——你可以在工作和闲暇之余尽情享用这笔财产提供给你的“利息”。不过，你千万不要打破必须遵守的规则，否则去医生那里“报到”不过是个时间问题罢了。
相信不必多说，所有人都明白健康的重要性，因为你所做的每一件有损健康的事情都会“找上门来”。
没有健康的身体就如同你整日与敌人为伴一样。许多人都因为忧虑而并非操劳过度而离开了人世；越来越多的人因为暴饮暴食而非饥饿而离开人世。如果人类少信点胃，多信点腿，那么大街上应该挤满了步行去上班的人。要知道。乘车去找死神的人总会比徒步前行的人快得多。
在我小时候，食物让我引发的思考只局限于它们能否将我的肚子填饱。而我现在之所以会提及健康问题，是因为我知道当我们的胃不能正常工作时，我们的大脑往往也无法正常思考。
也许别人认为你无权过问他们在工作之余都做了哪些事情，但一旦他们在生活中所做的事情影响了你们的工作状态，你就必须把这件事当成自己的事情来处理。由此，永远不要雇用那些酗酒成性的人。当然，你难免会有与客户洽谈生意的时候，而开启瓶盖的那一瞬间往往就是使客户敞开心扉的时候。不过对于现代社会的人而言，只有能力较差的销售员才会选择这种摆酒宴的方法。许多人都会把公事和酒宴扯在一起，结果使自己在生意场上输得一败涂地。
通常情况下，当你渴望从员工身上得到更多回报的时候，员工同样有权期望从你那里获得更多的利益。如果你想让他们把公司的利益当做自己的利益，你必须让他们看到你把员工的利益当做自己的利益来看待。许多人之所以会努力工作就是希望得到一份荣誉，不过这类人应该是诗人，你不要指望在身边找出这类人。老板的赞扬的确可以使一些优秀员工长时间内干劲十足，而另外一些员工则会因为你的赞许之词而从此停滞不前。
当然，这个世上有许多马儿是不用鞭子抽就不肯向前走的，不过我们没有理由不去选择那些不必用鞭子抽就愿意前行的马儿！
许多人认为逆境和不公正的待遇不过是对一个人的考验而已——当你想要将员工身上的潜能激发出来的时候，事实的确如此。可是，相较于不公正的待遇而言，良好且公正的态度更容易促使员工克服自身缺点。不仅如此，员工为了表达对你的感激之情，必定会加倍努力工作。当然。对于那些不懂得感恩的员工你直接开除就对了——你身边的人应该都是精英。
那些坐在办公室里为你出谋划策的人是公司的“大脑”，那些销售员则是公司的“手”，而那跑业务的人员则是公司的“腿”。如果公司的“腿”能够做到“箭步如飞”，那么公司的“大脑”就不会思虑过度，“手”也不会忙乱无章了。
导读
乔治·H·洛里默，美国著名作家兼报社主编。在任《星期六晚邮报》主编期间，洛里默以格雷厄姆公司老板约翰的名义 ，给他就读于哈佛大学的儿子皮埃尔庞特写信。他的家书在报上连载后立即产生了轰动效应，赢得了许多忠实读者，并很快编纂为《社会是一所大学》加以出版，这本书问世后曾连续两年荣获美国年度十大畅销图书的榜单，并因其独到的处事原则而被世人奉为年轻人的必读经典。
单词注解
inheritance [in5heritEns] n.继承
remnant [5remnEnt] n.残余，剩余；遗迹
mostly [5mEustli] adv.大部分地；主要地
adversity [Ed5vE:siti] n.逆境；厄运
deliver [di5livE] v.投递；传送；运送
诵读名句
Health is like any inheritance—you can spend the interest in work and play，but you mustn’t break into the principal.
Naturally，when you expect so much from your men，they have a right to expect a good deal from you.
Praise goes a long wav with a good man，and some employers stop there.
