2020-03-01_Forbes_Asia

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FORBES ASIA MARCH 2020

Morale

good boss has to know how to handle

people considerately to get maximum re-

sults,” boomed Bernard F. Gimbel, 62, the

183cm, 95kg president of Gimbel Bros.

department stores. Gimbel, a former

Penn fullback and wrestler, had guided his family’s chain

from its humble roots in Philadelphia to a preeminent

spot in New York City retail, fighting neighborhood rival

Macy’s every step of the way. His management theory:

“As Gimbel’s head man, it’s my job to be a builder-upper,

to strengthen the morale of my team, never to repri-

mand anyone in public, to give everyone a clearheaded,

followable conception of what has to be done.” Gimbel

would retire five years later with his stores’ sales having

grown 40 times over, to $600 million (nearly $6 billion

in today’s money), during his tenure.

“Keep buggering on.”

Winston Churchill

“The term ‘morale’ is never

used except in reference

to soldiers or people in

analogous positions, such

as employees of large

corporations or prison

inmates. No one ever

talks about the morale of

participants in a passionate

love affair.”

P.J. O’Rourke

“The greater part of our

happiness or misery

depends upon our

dispositions and not upon

our circumstances.”

Martha Washington

“About a third of my cases are

suffering from no clinically

definable neurosis, but

from the senselessness and

emptiness of their lives. This

can be defined as the general

neurosis of our times.”

Carl Jung

“The best morale exists

when you never hear the

word mentioned. When you

hear a lot of talk about it,

it’s usually lousy.”

Dwight Eisenhower

“Phrases like ‘the team

spirit’ are always employed

to cut across individualism,

love and personal loyalties.”

Muriel Spark

“If you are distressed by

anything external, the pain

is not due to the thing

itself but to your estimate

of it; and this you have

the power to revoke at any

moment.”

Marcus Aurelius

“Morale is good; troops

are confident; leaders

are capable.”

John Abizaid

“My expectations were

reduced to zero when

I was 21. Everything since

then has been a bonus.”

Stephen Hawking

“Military power wins battles,

but spiritual power wins wars.”

George C. Marshall

“We either make ourselves

miserable, or we make

ourselves strong. The

amount of work is the same.”

Carlos Castaneda

“No soldier outlives a

thousand chances. But

every soldier believes in

Chance and trusts his luck.”

Erich Maria Remarque

“Happiness in intelligent

people is just about the

rarest thing I know.”

Ernest Hemingway

“A cheerful heart is good

medicine, but a crushed

spirit dries up the bones.”

Proverbs 17:22

FINAL THOUGHT

“Into which path shall

workers be turned—the

one that leads to construc-

tive effort, ambition

and contentment, or the

one that leads to mental

idleness, dissatisfaction

and Bolshevism?”

—B.C. Forbes

THOUGHTS ON

SOURCES: GIVE WAR A CHANCE, BY P.J. O’ROURKE; MEDITATIONS, BY MARCUS

AURELIUS; THE SCIENCE OF SECOND GUESSING, NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE,

DECEMBER 12, 2004; THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, BY MURIEL SPARK; ALL

QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, BY ERICH MARIA REMARQUE; THE GARDEN OF

EDEN, BY ERNEST HEMINGWAY.

Gimbel’s Gambit

January 1, 1948

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