IMAGINATION 395A few years ago I received a letter from a young man who had just
finished business college, and who wanted to secure employment in my
office. With his letter he sent a crisp ten-dollar bill that had never been
folded. The letter read as follows:I have just finished a commercial course in a first-class business
college and I want a position in your office because I realize how
much it would be worth to a young man, just starting out on
his business career, to have the privilege of working under the
direction of a man like you.
If the enclosed ten-dollar bill is sufficient to pay for the
time you would spend giving me my first week's instructions, I
want you to accept it. I will work the first month without pay,
then you may set my wages at whatever I prove to be worth.
I want this job more than I ever wanted anything in my life
and I am willing to make any reasonable sacrifice to get it.
Very cordially ...This young man got his chance in my office. His Imagination
gained for him the opportunity that he wanted, and before his first
month had expired, the president of a life insurance company who heard
of this incident offered the young man a private secretaryship at a sub-
stantial salary. He is today an official of one of the largest life insurance
companies in the world.Some years ago a young man wrote to Thomas A. Edison for a
position, but for some reason Mr. Edison did not reply. By no means
discouraged on this account, the young man made up his mind that
not only would he get a reply from Mr. Edison, but what was more
important still, he would actually secure the position he sought. He
lived a long distance from West Orange, New Jersey, where the Edison
industries are located, and he did not have the money with which to
pay his railroad fare. But he did have Imagination. He went to West Orange