Businessman & Christ at one man’s formula fo r being a successful businessman
by BRUCE BARE
intelligence we have is a gift from life. Little can be done to alter the gift itself. Its level remains rela tively stable throughout life. Thus the lad with an IQ of 150 will man ifest this approximate IQ all of his days. The man with a subnormal IQ may struggle persistently but he will not rise above the intellectual potential which lies within him as a gift. The man who is a moron will not become a physician — and if it were somehow possible, we would not want him to operate on us or on our children. So also health is more frequently a given quality than not. And physiologists tell us that the size of our frames, and the distribution of our weight, and the amount of our weight are related to the question whether we are intro verts or extraverts. All of these and other factors are beyond the control of man, and they are made a part of him as a gift when he is born. With them he must live and die, and he must make the best of what he cannot change. Now,- so far, I have mentioned elements over which man has little or no control. Perhaps you have concluded that I am a determinist or that I am making man an au tomaton whose destiny is controlled without reference to himself at all. But such is not the case. For I hasten to add that when a child has been born with whatever gifts lie buried deep within him, there still remain those aspects of life which are acquired. Many times there are environmental factors which condi tion men and which mold and make them into what they ulti mately become. Some characteris tics we acquire by being taught them; some we acquire by social CONTINUED
by which men must live. The second premise which has guided my life is that which recog nizes that there are tangible and in tangible human (not divine) fac tors which go to make up the man who succeeds. That this premise is amazingly complex and that I will not be able to unfold all of its mys teries I acknowledge candidly. That it may, in some cases, be almost im possible to distinguish between the tangible and the intangible factors I also recognize. But however diffi cult the job of making the evalu ation it must still be attempted. In a rough fashion we may divide the human factors or gifts in a man into two categories — those gifts or factors which are given or implant ed in him at birth and those which are acquired by him during the course of life. Immediately I confess that qualities which are given must be developed and used or they are useless, but they must exist first be fore they can either be developed or used. Among the “ given” or “ implant ed” qualities may be included the following. First, intelligence. Now neither you nor I can govern our basic intelligence unless we are careful to select the right parents. And this we cannot do. But what About the Author Bruce Bare was born and raised in Iowa and is a graduate of Grinnell College. A fter graduation in 193S he joined the New England Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Omaha. He is now president of the Los Angeles General Agents and M an agers Association and vice president of the General Agents Association of the New England Mutual Life Insurance Co.
ern the universe and the same God Who ordained these physical laws has also ordained other laws which pertain to the physical body of man, to the intellectual and to the moral nature of man. The man who defies the law of gravity by jumping off a 200 foot cliff is no less a fool than the man who defies the moral and spiritual laws of God. Both operate and both do so inexorably. I am not now concerned with the laws which govern the physical universe but I am interested in those laws which deal with man kind in his physical, social, national and moral environment. I am con vinced that the laws of God which govern our relationships inter-pen- etrate all areas of life. Thus the laws of morality which govern my personal life are equally applicable to my life as a citizen of this coun try, and to my business life and to my personal and home life. What I am on Sunday or what I am at my best at home is what I must be in business and as a citizen. If it is wrong for me to steal from my children, it is wrong for me to steal from my customers and to defraud the government on my income tax. If it is wrong for me to lie to my wife, it is equally wrong for me to lie to my business friends, my cus tomers or to a court as a witness in a legal trial. All morality is one. There are not two standards, but one. This, then, has been the first premise of my life and it has been the guiding principle which under: lies my thinking and conduct — that there is a God Who has created and Who sustains a moral universe and Who has made known the laws
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THE KING 'S BUSINESS
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