406 THE PRINCIPLES OF PERSONAL POWER
You will never know what your capacity is for achievement until
you learn how to mix your efforts with Imagination. The products of
your hands, minus Imagination, will yield you but a small return. But
those selfsame hands, when properly guided by Imagination, can be
made to earn you all the material wealth you can use.
There are two ways in which you can profit by Imagination. You can
develop this faculty in your own mind, or you can ally yourself with
those who have already developed it. Andrew Carnegie did both. He not
only made use of his own fertile Imagination, but he gathered around
him a group of others who also possessed this essential quality, for
his difinite purpose in life called for specialists whose Imaginations ran
in numerous directions. In the group that constituted Mr. Carnegie's
Master Mind were men whose Imaginations were confined to the field
of chemistry. He had others in the group whose Imaginations were con-
fined to finances. He had still others whose Imaginations were confined
to salesmanship, one of whom was Charles M. Schwab, who is said to
have been the most able salesman on Mr. Carnegie's stafE
If you feel that your own Imagination is inadequate, you should
form an alliance with someone whose Imagination is sufficiently dev-
eloped to supply your deficiency. There are various forms of alliance,
including the alliance of marriage, the alliance of a business partnership,
the alliance of friendship, and the alliance of employer and employee.
Not all workers have the capacity to serve their own best interests as
employers, and those who haven't this capacity may profit by allying
themselves with people of Imagination who do have such capacity.
It is said that Mr. Carnegie made more millionaires of his employ-
ees than any other employer in the steel business. Among these was
Charles M. Schwab, who displayed evidence of the soundest sort of
Imagination by his good judgment in allying himself with Mr. Carnegie.
It is no disgrace to serve in the capacity of employee. To the contrary,
it often proves to be the most profitable side of an alliance since not all
of us are fitted to assume the responsibility of directing others.