MEN AND METHODS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 48, 20 November 1928, Page 15

MEN AND METHODS

BUSINESS PLANS AND IDEAS

(Conducted by “Observer”), The Successful Manager. ■‘‘All organised effort requires the help of two groups of people, those who command and those who obey,” writes Sir Gilbert C. Vyle in “Business.” There are a great number who only obey, a lesser number who both obey and command, and I think I am right in saying that there is no one vjho commands who docs not also, some time or another, obey. The intention of a manager, if he fulfils his duties entirely, is to direct or command the performance of some piece of work which he, in his turn, has been ordered to perform, and his duty is to see that the original command which came to him is obeyed in it satisfactory manner by those under jus authority. It therefore would seem that the selection of a manager would he governed almost completely by the manager’s ability and capacity to obey, and consciously or unconsciously we practise this method of selection. It is invariably the-man who has obeyed successfully who stands first in our minds for consideration when the question of further responsibilities are being considered. It may be summed up in a few words' in saying that it is the mans ability to command and obey which should guide us in the final selection of a business manager. Oddly enough, it is not always the man who is a brilliant personal performer who makes the best manager. In fact, individual performmice plays very little part in the art of managing except, perhaps, by way of example. The duty of the manager is to see that the people under his control do their allotted work in a satisfactory way. The physical limit of one man s activities are quickly reached when it depends upon his immediate personal performance, but if he has the faculty of evolution, the gift of command, there is no practical limit to the amount of responsibility that one man can carry. A Fortune From a Teapot. Corned beef and cabbage are no more Inseparable than an Englishman and his tea ; and from this assumption has grown an English business which serves 10,000,000 meals a .week. This is the record recently established by Lyons’ tea shops. Next to the London bus and the London bobby there is nothing more characteristic of London dhan the stereotyped white and gold store front of these übiquitous lunch-rooms, with their stereotyped exhibits of cakes and sweets in front and their marble-topped tables inside, waited on by “Nippy, the neat Lyons’ waitress with her chic uniform, diminutive lace-trimmed «Pron and frilled cap, and her inimitable cockney accent. In the early ’nineties an ordinary cup of tea, even in the cheapest coffee-house or “pub,” cost threepence. About that time young Montague Gluckstein, road salesman in his family s cigar business, found it necessary to break out in a new line,” and decided that a good pot (not cup!) of the natl ° aal beverage could be furnished for twopence. His family, the Glucksteins, who together with their relations, the Salmonses, owned the tobacco business of Salmon and Gluckstein (now the English equivalent of the United Cigar Stores), thought catering a low occupation, incompatible with the aristocratic trade of cigar manufacturing. After a family council they agreed to furnish the capital for the new enterprise, but only on condition that the family name was not to bo used. So Montague looked up an obscure cousin by the name of Lvons (afterward Sir Joseph Lyons), offered him a share in the business and made him titular head. They started hr getting the catering contract for one of those exhibitions, at Newcastle, opened a kiosk, served their ‘tuppenny pot and the best bread and butter at a reasonable price, and hired a Hungarian band. It was a howling success and the foundation of a new family fortune was laid. Other exhibitions followed, and then the Piccadilly tea shop, which became the model for 250 others in London alone. Now the firm, grown into a trust, runs not only these tea shops but a whole series of de luxe low-priced res taurants or “supcr ; cafes on a scale, known as “Corner Houses or “Maisons Lyons,” also one of the biggest high-class catering establishments, the Trocadero, serving anything from a dance supper to a .p, an ( ?l iet ’.. a n n J, ) t n v? London hotels, with Continental cafes and a no-tipping rule. Small Beginnings. Leaders of commerce and. all had to begin somewhere at the bottom or the ladder. While the life-story oE ai successful merchant prince is “Jways inter esting, the manner m .which he gained his start that is particularly so. in "Kings of Commerce,” the life-stories of twenty-six famous business men, is revealed some of the secrets which have made for outstanding success in many walks of life. The book is particularly valuable to the young man entering business, as it shows that poor circumstances, lack of training, and other drawbacks can be overcome where the determination to succeed is supported by other necessary qualifications. In the space at our disposal, it is impossible to review the many characters referred to in Ktn o s of Commerce,” but one or two outstanding examples demand consideration. Most readers of this column have heard ot A W. Gamage, and the great London sports and novelty emporium which bears his name. When it is considered that Gainage's have an annual . turnover of over one million pounds, it is bardly credible that the business was established in 1878 with a capital of £l6O. The business, states “Kings and Commerce, was originally a hosiery shop, but Gamage and his partner took advantage of new novelties as they were placed on the market, and frequently undersold competitors, with the result that the business was developed on more general lines. "Small profits and good goods, was the motto responsible for the success of A. W. Gamage.

Another story of success has as its central figure Sir Thomas Lipton,_whose tea is known throughout the Empire. As a boy, young Tommy Lipton set out to make his fortune in America, and commenced his commercial career selling newspapers in New York. Returning to Glasgpiv, he opened a small lock-up shop and sold groceries. He had a very small capital, but he appreciated the power of advertising. Thanks to the judicious use of publicity, young Lipton’s shop began to prosper, and he was soon able to repay the money he had borrowed to start it. By working hard, dealing honestly and advertising freely, Lipton steadily built up his business, until in little more than a year he was able to employ assistants. When one shop succeeded, he promptly opened another, until his first humble establishment grew to scores all over Great Britain. He opened factories, purchased tea-gardens in Ceylon, and built up one of the largest businesses of its kind. “My two principles,” he said, “have always been to sell for cash and eliminate the middleman.” “Kings of Commerce,” published by G. Hai'top and Co., Ltd., at 7s. 6d. net, deals in a brief but interesting manner with the successes of many of the leading business figures of England and America, and deserves a place on every business bookshelf.