A COMMERCIAL GENIUS - The Story

A COMMERCIAL GENIUS

 (The story is in bold letters)

In the city of Supratishthita a scene of great animation prevailed. Everywhere surging crowds were gesticulating, shouting, talking. On the market-place a group of Brahmans were engaged in a dispute about the various interpretations of the holy books ; a band of chanters were intoning the sacred hymns of the Vedas ; in a corner gamblers were enticing victims to their net by reminding passers-by of the treasure that may be won by the successful gamester; in another corner a knot of merchants had met together to discuss the science of money-making. "Would you like to hear the history of my commercial career?" asked one of the merchants of his fellow-traders. " I am the son of a merchant," he continued, as they assented, "and was born after my father's death. My mother, who was robbed of all her property by unscrupulous relatives, brought me up by dint of great industry and much self-sacrifice. So poor were we that I was instructed in reading and writing by the charity of a kind teacher. Then one day my mother said to me, ' You are now old enough to begin to earn your living. You must choose a trade. In this country there lives a very rich merchant named Visakhila, who has means enough to lend money to young men of good family to give them a start in life. You must entreat him to put you in the way of beginning some business.'

Q. 1.  Is any man altogether " self-made "?

A. - In a country district it might be possible for a man to make his fortune starting empty-handed, by adopting the same plan as the mouse merchant in taking some natural product of the country which belongs to no one and selling it, etc. But in a town this would be impossible, for nothing of value has no owner in a city, and so, except by dishonest means, a man of no possessions whatsoever could not possibly obtain the wherewithal to find food and clothes, much less start a trade or business.

So-called " self-made " men are numerous enough, but few, if any, are entirely self-made, most of them having had money or goods given or left to them, no matter in how small a quantity, with which to begin, and but for charity in the way of food or clothes, few of these would have lived through the early stages of making their wealth.

Q. 2.  What circumstances were against the boy ?

A. (a). He had never known a father, and no amount of intimacy with other mature men could teach the knowledge that comes, perhaps unconsciously, from living under the same roof as one's father.

(b). His mother was robbed of her property, and consequently must have been too preoccupied at times to think of her son's upbringing, probably just at the time when he needed most attention.

(c). He was forced to start his career before his ideas had had time to settle.

(d). He had no one to help him in choosing his career.

(e). He had to visit the wealthy merchant as a beggar with the prospect of being indebted to him for many years.

(f). He had no training for any business, and no influence to help him.

(g). He had no money or property with which to open a business.

(h). He must have felt himself a burden on his mother, and later must have felt her a burden on himself, even though he was repaying her a debt.

(c), (d), (e), and (g) should be considered as advantages and not as disadvantages in his case. But, since he was exceptional, I have changed their position, placing them under the category of disadvantages, as they would be to the ordinary boy.

Q. 3. What circumstances were in his favour ?

A. (a). He had a generous and devoted mother.

(b). He was given an education of sorts, when none was to be expected.

(c). Starting life thus early he learned to act for himself and to form his own judgments, so that at the age when most boys are only beginning to feel their feet he was already a map.

"So I went to his house full of hope, but made my entry at a most inauspicious moment, for at that very instant he was saying to a youth who was engaged in an interview with him : *Look at that dead mouse lying on the floor. Why, if you had brains, you might even make money out of that ! But you, blockhead that you are, actually have not been able to keep the money you received from me, much less increase it!'

Q. 4. Is it usually a token of brains to be able to make money get money ?

A.  As a general rule it requires a man of brains to make money get money, especially in trade and commerce ; and from the earliest times it has been considered a clever performance to do so. Moreover, the older the world grows, the harder money-making becomes, owing to increased competition, and still more does it indicate the active brain to make money get money. But it does not always follow that a man who has made a fortune is indebted only to his brains for it. For instance,  in stock broking and insurance there is a large element of luck which plays as important a part as brains in the success of such a venture, wherein anyone is as likely to succeed as a clever man.

Q. 5. Is it an advantage to a boy to have money to start in life ?

A. This depends on the boy's character, whether he be a spendthrift or thrifty, well trained in the value of money, spoilt, or brought up sensibly. To a normally educated boy, mentally balanced and destined to earn his own living, a moderate sum of money is a decided advantage in saving him the drudgery of poverty during his early days, thus leaving him free to devote all his energies to furthering his education, and so making for quicker promotion. But to one not so self-controlled money obtained otherwise than by work is apt to lead to various extravagances and ultimate indolence and uselessness.

" When I heard this, a sudden idea seized me and I exclaimed : ' I will take that mouse from you as my stock in trade.' So saying, I picked it up off the floor, wrote him a receipt for it, and departed with my prize, to the great amusement of the merchant.

Q. 6. Did the boy show business-like qualities here ?

A. Business-like qualities were shown in the prompt seizing of the opportunity and the attention to detail in signing a receipt for such a trifle. But he acted rashly in making the merchant his creditor

even by so little as a mouse, for he had no notion at the time what he could do with it or how he could repay the debt. Business-like though he was, luck was on his side, for no one can know beforehand whether a given opportunity is the chance of a lifetime.

" Now mark the progress of my dealings with the mouse. " First I sold the carcass to a merchant as cat's meat for two handfuls of barley ; then I ground down the barley and procuring a pitcher of water, I took up my stand at the cross-roads where there were some trees to shelter me from the sun, just outside the city. A group of woodcutters passed by, so I politely offered them the water and the barley, which they gratefully accepted, for they were parched with the midday heat, and each in return for my proffered refreshment gave me two pieces of the wood he had just cut.

Q. 7. What qualities necessary for successful business did he display in this transaction ?

A. He knew where to sell the carcass profitably, and having done so knew how to create a market for his barley. He had the imagination necessary to advertise his goods in the right place and manner and at the right time. And most of all he had an original idea and brains enough to carry it out successfully.

" Well, I took all these pieces of wood to the market, where I sold them at a good price, purchasing with part of the money so obtained a further quantity of barley, and taking up my stand in the same place to supply the thirsty woodcutters again with water. This I did every day, the men continuing to bestow on me in return pieces of their wood, till in the end I had collected wealth enough to buy up all the timber the woodcutters had felled during three days. Fortune once more favoured me, for suddenly there came a great scarcity of wood throughout the land owing to the heavy rain, so I disposed of all my stock of timber at an increased value, and with the gold thus gained I bought a shop, where I have since prospered exceedingly. Then I remembered my former benefactor who had put me in the way of all this advancement, and making a mouse of gold, I carried it to him as a present, to recall to his mind the youth who had one day come to ask his help and had taken no aid from him but the carcass of a mouse.

Q. 8. Had the young man cause to be grateful to the merchant ?

A. He had very little reason to be grateful to the merchant, for the latter had not troubled himself about the boy at all, except in letting him take away a carcass which was of no value to himself. He had not even suggested how the mouse could be made to get money, so that little credit attached to him for the bare idea.

'*He was so impressed by the story of my progress that he paid me the greatest honour he could bestow on me : he gave me his daughter in marriage, and in consequence my fame spread abroad through the land, where I am known to all by the name of the mouse merchant. So from small beginnings can come great consequences, if only one has the wit to seize the opportunity." When the merchants who were gathered round him heard this tale they could not help applauding

the ability which, without a solitary coin in the world, had advanced to so high a station.

Q. 9. How would you sum up the mouse merchant's character ?

A. He was plucky in starting on his own without support, impetuous in seizing the first opportunity that offered without weighing it previously, shrewd and imaginative, ambitious and quick to act, philosophical in making the best of his bad luck and not giving way to bemoaning his fate, generous and grateful to his benefactor, boastful and wrongly proud of his achievements, estimating his own ability too highly and not giving due credit to the kindness of Fortune.

Q. 10. Was he fortunate or did he make his own good fortune ?

A. He was fortunate in that some unknown power prompted him to try his luck with the mouse's carcass, but once that was done he contributed largely to his own good fortune by his capacity for business and his ambition, which led him into making something like a corner in timber, when once again Fortune favoured him. And then once more he helped himself by opening a shop which prospered, thanks to his own energies.

Q. 11. Is imagination necessary to make a good man of business ?

A. Few men could build up a successful business without imagination, for lacking it men sink into ruts from which they cannot escape, their energies fail, and they become machines, with fatal consequences to their business. This is what occurs in long-established firms where new blood is seldom introduced, with the result that younger houses, managed by men of ideas, spring up and take away the custom of the older and routine-bound. Still more is imagination needed in the case of firms starting some new business—that is, a business that has never been attempted before—for since there is no experience to guide the pioneer, everything connected therewith must be imagined before being put to the test. Imagination is the most important quality necessary to a successful undertaking. Our merchant possessed it. Once the idea of the mouse's carcass had taken hold of him he imagined the whole scheme : selling, advertising, reselling, and so on, until he was wealthy enough to purchase a shop.

Q. 12. Does success in business depend as a rule on extraordinary talent and originality ?

A. The owner of a business is far more likely to succeed if he possesses originality which suggests new methods than if he plods on in the hackneyed style of the everyday world. So also a brand-new kind of employment, if sound, is more likely to prosper than a new method of an old kind of business in which there is keen competition. These cases both apply to the owner. But in the case of employees, it is not always the man of talent and originality who gains promotion, though in many cases these qualities will lift a man out of his turn over the heads of others not so original but quite as industrious.

NOTE

The answers to the questions in the above text are by a young Cambridge graduate who was about to enter upon a commercial career. Students may compare and contrast the general character of these questions with those set by Professor Hugo Munsterberg, of Harvard University, in a volume intended for the practical business man,* and may select from Professor Miinsterberg's test questions a dozen which they consider as comprehensive and searching as those in this text. They may also analyse the same Professor's dictum that " all business is ultimately the affair of minds. It starts from minds, it works through minds, it aims to serve minds," and trace how far this proposition is illustrated by the Hindu merchant's career.

* Business Psychology, by Dr. Hugo Munsterberg. Chicago » 1915.

(Q. 1). We all make or unmake ourselves.Our pride admits the former fact, but refuses to go further and admit the latter, generally ascribing the unmaking to unfortunate circumstances. Hindu religious philosophy teaches that every individual is born with powers and tendencies which are the result of his deeds in past lives ; that no man suffers through another's sin, or gains happiness through another's mediation. In this sense, therefore, every man is self-made.

(Q. 10). According to Hinduism, the youth was reaping the result of his good deeds in previous incarnations. Man can be neither fortunate nor unfortunate by chance, since everything is the effect of a cause. The doctrine of Karma eliminates the idea of chance ; but it does not do away with the doctrine of Free Will ; in fact, what is Karma but the accumulated result of Free Will?

(Q. 11). Students may compare what is here asserted regarding the necessity of imagination in business with Professor Miinsterberg's opinion that " No business life is really successful which is not aided by some kind of imagination. Nobody lives from the satisfactions of the present only. Anticipated joys of the future are the chief motives to action. Every successful life is, after all, a life with a life plan."

Lets Win Together!

Rajeev Kumar