SUCCESS IN BUSINESS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 256, 27 July 1939, Page 13

SUCCESS IN BUSINESS

Advice By Sir Alexander Roberts SIMPLE THINGS THAT COUNT , Observing that the simple subjects in education were the most important m business, Sir Alexander Roberts, in a talk to the Wellington branch of the New Zealand League lor the Hard of Hearing last night, <said that in these days they were perhaps inclined to make too much obeisance to that god called matriculation. Writing was one of the simple subjects and in business, people must be able to write a good hand, yet he was afraid that in the modern system of education too little attention was paid to that necessary function. . Taking for his subject, for Success in Commercial Life,” Sir Alexander said the principles of success were really quite simple, but the application might be a little more difficult. Success could be attained by many people in many walks of life and did not pertain only to those who occupied the highest positions in the commercial world. The first essential for success in commerce was hard work. There was no short cut, and the young man had to make up his mind that he had the will to work and that he was prepared to work hard for a long time. After referring to the importance of being able to write a reasonable hand, and remarking that writing had become a lost art, Sir Alexander said it had been remarked about his firm that it was too old-fashioned for doing so much of the work by hand. However, he preferred it that way, because it was better, and he also considered that the man’s place, was in the office and the woman’s place in the home. The use of common sense was one of the most vital essentials for success in this world, and another essential was thoroughness. There should be absolute regard for small things. The whole structure of commercial life was built on honesty, and so much depended on the word of the individual.