I Dare You! by William H. Danforth

Author:William H. Danforth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2019-12-29T16:00:00+00:00

I DARE YOU TO DEVELOP A MAGNETIC PERSONALITY

If you were applying to us for a position in our business, I would first ask the doctor to report on your physical condition. I would want to be sure that you were well and had the stamina and strength to finish any program you would start. Then I would have the Personnel Department check your mental capacity and background. After being satisfied that you are physically and mentally fit, do you think that is all I want to know about you? Not by long odds. I want to see you and talk to you. But why? Isn’t all the information we need to know on these reports? No, there is something more I must know, something that can’t easily be put down on paper.

You walk into my office. I may notice the cut of your clothes, the way you comb your hair, your shoes, your nails, any stains on your fingers—we always give each other the “once over,” don’t we? But the big thing is, have you got that something called Personality. It may be akin to that “It” which I used to hear our young people talk about. I am looking for that indescribable quality which attracts people to you. If you give me a flabby handshake, if you have a grouchy look with the corners of your mouth turned down—we don’t want you around. Faces that smile, voices that ring, steps that are firm, interests that are broad—likeable personalities. These are the things that attract business and the whole world, too, for that matter. Obstacles just melt away before the sunshine of a smile. Such leaders with the ability to make friends can dare twice as much as the lone wolf.

What is this Personality? Is it “That Something” born in some people and not in others? Can it be developed? Of course it can. Undoubtedly some people are blest with a greater capacity for this social side than others. Because Bill has more personality than I have doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t develop mine. Many a country boy has joined our sales force and been almost too timid to interview prospective consumers. But I have seen these same boys in a few years so develop and broaden their personalities that they now stand on a platform before hundreds of people and speak with confidence, poise, and power. These boys attract their audiences, not by memorizing their speeches, but by finding out a community’s needs and with the fervor of an evangelist by supplying those needs. Service is a much overused word, but the development of real service is the enlargement of personality.

“But what am I to dare in the social side?” you ask. Shall I be a social lion? Not exactly. Perhaps your particular dare is not to be a social lion. If dancing, bridge and clubs take more than their share of time from the other three sides of your checker, I dare you to give them their proper place.

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