Initiative And Leadership
We then went to the president of the Traction Company that owned
the trolley line, at Fairmont, and laid before him an offer to donate all
the rights of way and pay for two thirds of the cost of the bridge
providing he would begin building the line into town promptly. We
found him receptive, also.
Three weeks later a contract had been signed between the Baltimore
& Ohio Railroad Company, the Monongahela Valley Traction
Company and the County Commissioners of Harrison County,
providing for the construction of the bridge, one third of its cost to be
paid by each.
Two months later the right of way was being graded and the bridge was under way, and three months after that street cars were running into Lumberport on regular schedule. This incident meant much to the town of Lumberport, because it provided transportation that enabled people to get in and out of the town without undue effort. It also meant a great deal to me, because it served to introduce me as one who "got things done."
Two very definite advantages resulted from this transaction. The Chief Counsel for the Traction Company gave me a position as his assistant, and later on it was the means of an introduction which led to my appointment as the advertising manager of the LaSalle Extension University.
Lumberport, W. Va., was then, and still is a small town, and Chicago was a large city and located a considerable distance away, but news of Initiative and Leadership has a way of taking on wings and traveling.
Four of the Fifteen Laws of Success were combined in the transaction described, namely:
- A DEFINITE CHIEF AIM,
- SELF-CONFIDENCE,
- IMAGINATION and INITIATIVE
- LEADERSHIP.
The Law of DOING MORE THAN PAID FOR also entered, somewhat, into the transaction, because I was not offered anything and in fact did not expect pay for what I did.
To be perfectly frank I appointed myself to the job of getting the
bridge built more as a sort of challenge to those who said it could not
be done than I did with the expectation of getting paid for it. By my
attitude I rather intimated to Mr. Hornor that I could get the job done,
and he was not slow to snap me up and put me to the test.
It may be helpful to call attention here to the part, which IMAGINATION played in this transaction. For ten years the townspeople of Lumberport had been trying to get a streetcar line built into town. It must not be concluded that the town was without men of ability, because that would be inaccurate.