Title: Forging Ahead in Business
Author: Alexander Hamilton Institute
Release date: November 5, 2011 [eBook #37924]
Most recently updated: January 8, 2021
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37924
Credits: Produced by Charlene Taylor, Henry Gardiner and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
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| PAGE | ||
| Foreword—The Law of Success | 7 | |
| CHAPTER | ||
| I | The Modern Business Course and Service | 9 |
| II | The Danger of Specializing Too Early | 30 |
| III | Pushing Beyond the Half-way Mark | 35 |
| IV | A Personal Problem | 43 |
| V | The Question Before You | 69 |
| VI | Descriptive Outline of the Course | 72 |
| VII | Advisory Council, Lecturers and Staff | 97 |
| — | Advertisements | 121 |
During the winter of 1883 a slim, studious young man was working as assistant foreman in a greasy little machine shop at Aurora, Illinois. He was saving money with a view to spending the next year at the State University, and he was devoting every minute of his spare time to thought and reading. He was not making much of a stir in the world, and only a few of his close friends ever gave a second thought to his ambitions or prospects.
One of these friends was a newspaper reporter, a recent Harvard graduate. He, too, was interested in study, especially of financial questions, and he found it a pleasure to guide the reading of the young foreman. Many an evening the two friends spent in the discussion of great economic and financial problems. Though both men had their ambitions and dreams, it did not occur to either one that he would ever play a big part in solving these problems.
A few years later the Harvard graduate became financial editor of the Chicago Tribune and brought in the younger man as his assistant. During their years of newspaper work together they continued to study and think, and their knowledge of business principles and methods gradually broadened. They were fitting themselves almost without knowing it to step forward into positions of leadership.
Today, the former reporter is the head of a great university school of commerce; the assistant foreman became the president of the largest bank in the United States. One of these men is Joseph French Johnson, now Dean of the New York University School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance. The other is Frank A. Vanderlip, the great financier.
The life histories of most men who have succeeded in a large way are equally simple. They have looked ahead, they have planned, they have equipped themselves with all the business knowledge available, and success has followed. Success must follow. The law of success is as definite as the law of gravity. Here it is:
It is not the dramatic moments of life that count. It is the quiet planning and reading of the man who is getting ready now for what is going to happen two, five or ten years from now.
As Dean of New York University School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance, Joseph French Johnson had for many years continually received letters requesting advice on what to read on business.
These demands came not only from young men, but from mature and able executives, and sometimes even from the most successful business leaders. To all such requests Dean Johnson was obliged to reply that the only practical way to study the fundamental principles of business in a systematic manner was to attend the lectures in university schools of commerce.
At that time the literature of business was scanty and for the most part of doubtful value. Working alone, a man could get but little help in his efforts to widen and deepen his knowledge of business principles.
It became evident that there was a great need for an organized, logical statement of the basic principles on which successful business is founded. It was determined to establish an institution which should meet the demand. After years of preparation the Alexander Hamilton Institute was established in 1909.
In selecting the name, it was agreed that none could be so suitable as that of Alexander Hamilton.
Hamilton is perhaps chiefly remembered for his masterly statesmanship; but he was equally conspicuous as soldier, financier, author, organizer and practical economist.
He was without doubt the greatest manager ever employed by the United States Government. When he became the first Secretary of the Treasury, he found a chaotic government, without money, without credit, and without organization. He secured order, provided funds and created prosperity. He investigated the industries and directed the early commercial development of the United States. "He touched the dead corpse of the public credit, and it sprang upon its feet. He smote the rock of the nation's resources and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth."
Hamilton was a great executive and systematizer; he himself worked out an accounting system for the United States Government which, with but slight modifications, remained in force for more than a hundred years.
The Modern Business Course and Service is a systematic, time-saving method of bringing to any man's office or home that business knowledge and training which he needs, but which he cannot acquire through his own experience.
It is designed for the benefit of two groups of men:
It is intended, in general, for the men who are looking and moving ahead; for live, keen-witted, energetic men; for men who are not satisfied to remain in the ranks or in subordinate positions. These men may or may not have had a thorough school and college training; that is not an essential. They may or may not have wealth and high position; that is unimportant. But they must have ability and enough serious purpose to spend a portion of their spare time in reading and thinking about business problems.
The Modern Business Course and Service is conducted by an organization made up of business and professional men and of university specialists in business subjects. Inasmuch as such an institution derives its strength almost wholly from the men who are identified with it, a complete list of these men, with brief biographical notes to show who they are and what they have accomplished, is given in Chapter VII, on pages 97 to 118.
The Institute organization consists of four groups:
Business and educational authority of the highest standing is represented in the Advisory Council of the Institute.
This Advisory Council consists of Frank A. Vanderlip, the financier; T. Coleman duPont, the business executive; John Hays Hammond, the eminent engineer; Joseph French Johnson, Dean of the New York University School of Commerce; and Jeremiah W. Jenks, the statistician and economist. The Council has general supervision and direction of the policies and activities of the Institute. No important move of any kind is made without the sanction of this body.
The Authors and Collaborators are men prominent in educational and business circles. As authors, co-authors and collaborators they are responsible for the Modern Business volumes. Their writing is done under the guidance and with the cooperation of the Institute's Editorial Board. Each one is chosen because of his particular training and ability in the field he covers.
The Special Lecturers, whose business connections are stated on pages 111 to 118, are men of high commercial standing who have devoted time and thought to preparing written lectures for the Modern Business Course and Service. These lectures present some of the results of their successful business experience.
The Institute Staff actively conducts the Modern Business Course and Service. Many of the members of the Staff are also members of the faculties of university schools of commerce. Every member of the Staff is a specialist who in some one business subject is entitled to rank as an authority. Their names, business and university connections and official duties in the Institute are stated on pages 100 to 110.
(a) The Consultant Staff are the experts who do not give their entire time to the Institute, but who are called upon for special information and advice whenever the occasion requires.
(b) The Administrative Staff consists of the Senior and Junior Executives who are active in the administrative work of the organization. These men are heads of the departments responsible for the successful management of the Alexander Hamilton Institute.
The Modern Business Course and Service brings to a subscriber the essential business knowledge that he does not acquire in his own experience. The subject matter of the Course and Service is treated under the following 24 heads:
The Modern Business Course and Service covers the essential subjects on which every business man should be well informed.
When an enrolment is accepted, the Institute undertakes,
1. To supply the subscriber with the Modern Business Text—the most complete and best organized treatment of business principles and practice that has yet been produced.
2. To guide and illuminate his reading of the Text by a series of Modern Business Talks.
3. To bring him into touch with the ideas and methods of some of the foremost business and professional men in the country through a series of Modern Business Lectures.
4. To give him facilities for applying and testing his knowledge of business principles through a series of Modern Business Problems.
5. To keep him informed on current business events and the trend of future affairs in the commercial world by means of Monthly Letters on Business Conditions.
6. To acquaint him with important events covering the production and prices of general commodities and the current security market.
7. To supply him with four Modern Business Reports on important problems; the reports to be selected by him from an extensive list.
8. To render personal service through answers to all inquiries in connection with his reading of the Course.
An enrolment for the Modern Business Course and Service covers a period of two years. During that time each subscriber is constantly in touch with the members of the Institute Staff. There are no rigid rules—no red tape—to restrict or annoy; instead, there is personal guidance and sincere cooperation.
The more carefully you consider the plan, the more clearly you will see how well it is adapted to the needs of busy men who must make every minute and every ounce of effort produce the greatest possible results.
You will see more clearly the actual scope of the Modern Business Course and Service if you keep in view its eight main features:
The basis of the Course and Service is a series of twenty-four text-books prepared under the careful supervision of its editors, assisted by well-known authorities. In some cases the latter appear as authors, in others as collaborators in the preparation of the Texts.
Dean Joseph French Johnson is Editor-in-Chief of the Course. The managing editor is Dr. Roland P. Falkner. Associated with them is a large editorial staff which takes an active share in the writing and preparation of the Course. The authors and collaborators are specialists who rank as authorities in their particular field. The series is widely recognized as the most important contribution yet made to business literature.
The volumes in the Modern Business Series are sold apart from the Institute Course only to universities for use as prescribed text-books in classroom work. Among the universities which have used the Institute's volumes as texts are:
There are about three hundred and fifty pages in each of the twenty-four volumes. Each volume is carefully indexed and contains, in addition to the text, a few review suggestions after each chapter which are of great value in mastering the subject.
Questions of Commercial Law as they affect each subject are discussed in the volume pertaining to that particular unit of the Course.
The Modern Business Talks, which are sent fortnightly, are informal discussions of the principles treated in the Text. As the name indicates, these Talks bring up many specific points and cases, and show more clearly why and how the underlying principles of scientific business should be applied. They are particularly direct, practical and stimulating. Their periodic visits serve to keep every subscriber in touch with the Institute Staff and alive to the importance of following the Course systematically. The Talks are prepared by members of the Institute Staff or other authorities.
In the pamphlet which contains the Talk the reading assignment for the following two weeks is suggested. On receiving the fortnightly instalment of new material, the subscriber will ordinarily read the Talk before taking up the reading assignment, and thus get a bird's-eye view of the ground that is to be covered during the succeeding two weeks.
Some of the subjects discussed are:
The written Modern Business Lectures, which are sent to subscribers monthly during the two-year Course, have been especially prepared for the Institute by eminent business executives, publicists and accountants, and reflect the experience of these men in successfully handling business problems.
They are intended, first, to show how these men have actually applied the principles discussed in the Modern Business Course; second, to give further information as to large and highly developed business concerns and their methods; and, third, to bring subscribers into closer touch with the wide circle of representative, successful men of affairs.
Some of the subjects of the Lectures are:
One of the strongest features of the Course is the series of twenty-four Problems—such problems as accountants, financiers, bankers and business managers meet in practice—especially prepared for the Course by members of the Institute Staff.
Each Problem is a carefully worded statement of all the essential factors in some business situation; in other words, the situation is presented and described just as it might be in the report of a subordinate official to the head of a business enterprise. The Problems are so arranged as to correspond closely to the assigned reading. For instance, after the subject of cost accounts has been discussed, a Problem is given in which a knowledge of cost accounting principles is called for. Thus, the Problems serve not merely to test the subscriber's understanding and thinking power, but also to fix in his mind and make definite the statements and principles contained in the Text volumes.
When solutions to the Problems are sent in, they are criticised, graded, and returned with suggestions for further study. Solutions to the Problems are not, however, required. Some of the titles are:
A business executive must have a knowledge of the fundamental principles relating to the internal organization and management of a business.
He should also have a basis of judging those external business conditions over which no one group of men has control, but to the trend of which every line of business must be adjusted in order to gain the maximum of profit and suffer the minimum of loss.
The results of these studies are presented to the business man in a clear and concise manner in the Monthly Letter on Business Conditions.
In order to keep subscribers informed regarding the state of business at home and abroad, and as a basis for applying the principles explained in the Text, the Monthly Letters will prove most helpful. The economic experts of our Business Conditions Bureau are constantly bringing together and interpreting facts and figures regarding bank clearings, pig iron production, unfilled steel orders, exports and imports, railroad earnings, and such indices of financial conditions as the reserves, loans and deposits of the Federal Reserve Banks.
The letters discuss political events and developments in the business world which have an influence upon price movements and conditions of activity or depression. The business man will find them particularly interesting, as they show him what to expect in the future by pointing out the present trend of affairs.
The Financial and Trade Reviews are issued monthly by our Bureau of Business Conditions and are designed to cover in a timely and interesting fashion the activities in the security market by analyzing individual and group securities and by presenting statistics on prices and earnings of standard stocks and bonds.
The Reviews cover the production and price trends of basic commodities and matters of interest in foreign fields. Leading articles deal with current events of note and interest to the business community.
The Financial and Trade Review is a valuable supplement to the principles brought out in the regular reading schedule.
The Modern Business Reports are written by professional and trade experts and members of the Institute Staff, and cover both important business problems of general interest and technical subjects relating to Accounting, Sales, Office Methods, Merchandising, Production and other specialized departments.
From time to time a descriptive list of these Reports is sent to each subscriber. From these lists the subscriber may choose four Reports at any time during the two-year period of his enrolment.
These Reports run from ten to fifty pages in length. Each one is prepared in reference to some specific problem and is the result of special investigation. The subjects cover a wide field, and every subscriber will find among them a number which are of particular interest to him.
The list of Reports includes such titles as:
The reading matter of the Modern Business Course is in itself of remarkable value; subscribers have told us over and over again that one volume, or sometimes one pamphlet, or one Report, has brought them ideas worth vastly more than the fee for the Course and Service.
This value is largely enhanced by the fact that back of the reading matter there is an organization of men who are anxious to cooperate in every way possible with each subscriber. This organization is equipped to render service at every stage of the subscriber's progress.
First of all, certain members of the Staff are assigned to the pleasant task of carrying on correspondence with subscribers. They make an earnest effort whenever a new enrolment is received to get into touch with the subscriber and learn under what conditions he is working, what experience and education he has had and what objects he has in view. With this information before them they can often make suggestions that are directly helpful and that mean a larger increase in the subscriber's personal benefit from his use of the Course and Service.
Furthermore, every one who thinks as he reads comes across statements and opinions which he does not fully understand or which he questions. The privilege of asking about any such statements or opinions is freely open to all subscribers. There is no limit whatever to the number of questions which may be submitted, based on the Text or other reading matter of the Course.
There are four fundamental activities in every business—Production, Marketing, Financing, and Accounting.
On the following page you will see the whole field of business charted in such a way as to show clearly the relation of various business activities to each other. Economics, the study of business conditions and business policies, is the hub of all business activity. Radiating from it are the four grand divisions of business—Production, Marketing, Financing, Accounting. These in turn are subdivided into the more detailed activities which they include.
The Modern Business Course and Service is a thorough treatment of all the divisions indicated.