d I do it well. What more can I do?"

This is simply a type of a young man to be found in thousands of
offices and stores. He goes to his work each day with no definite point
nor plan in view; he leaves it with nothing accomplished. He is a mere
automaton. Let him die, and his position can be filled in twenty-four
hours. If he detracts nothing from his employer's business, he
certainly adds nothing to it. He never advances an idea; is absolutely
devoid of creative powers; his position remains the same after he has
been in it for five years as when he came to it.

* * * * *

Now, I would not for a moment be understood as belittling the value of
faithfulness in an employee. But, after all, faithfulness is nothing
more nor less than a negative quality. By faithfulness a man may hold a
position a lifetime. He will keep it just where he found it. But by the
exercise of this single quality he does not add to the importance of
the position any more than he adds to his own value. It is not enough
that it may be said of a young man that he is faithful; he must be
something more. The willingness and capacity to be faithful to the
smallest detail must be there, serving only, however, as a foundation
upon which other qualities are built.

Altogether too many young men are content to remain in the positions in
which they find themselves. The thought of studying the needs of the
next position just above them never seems to enter their minds. It is
possible for every young man to rise above his position, and it makes
no difference how humble that position may be, nor under what
disadvantages he may be placed. But he must be alert. He must not be
afraid of work, and of the hardest kind of work. He must study not only
to please, but he must go a step beyond. It is essential, of course,
that he should first of all fill the position for which he is engaged.
No man can solve the problem of business before he understands the
rudiments of the problem itself. Once the requirements of a position
are understood and mastered, then its possibilities should be
undertaken. It is foolish, as some young men argue, that to go beyond
their special position is impossible with their employers. The employer
never existed who will prevent the cream of his establishment from
rising to the surface. The advance of an employee always means the
advance of the employer's interests. An employer would rather pay a
young man five