INITIATIVE AND LEADERSHIP 361Three years later this realtor had an organization of sixty salesmen
and one of the most successful real estate businesses in the city of St.
Louis. I have been in this realtor's office many times and have observed
him over a period of more than fifteen years. He is an entirely different
human being from the person interviewed by the LaSalle salesman over
fifteen years ago. And the thing that made him different is the same that
will make you different: It is the power of decision that is so essential to
Leadership.
This realtor is now a leader in the real estate field. He is directing
the efforts of other salesmen and helping them to become more effi-
cient. This one change in his philosophy has turned temporary defeat
into success. Every new salesperson who goes to work for him is called
into his private office, before going to work, and told the story of his
own transformation, word for word, just as it occurred when the LaSalle
salesman first met him in his shabby little real estate office.
Some eighteen years ago I made my first trip to the little town of
Lumberport, West Virginia. At that time the only means of transporta-
tion leading from Clarksburg, the largest nearby center, to Lumberport
was both the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and an interurban electric line
which ran within three miles of the town. One could walk the three
miles if they chose.
Upon my arrival at Clarksburg I found that the only train going
to Lumberport in the forenoon had already gone, and not wishing
to wait for the later afternoon train I made the trip by trolley, with
the intention of walking the three miles. On the way down, the rain
began to pour, and those three miles had to be navigated on foot,
through deep yellow mud. When I arrived at Lumberport my shoes
and pants were muddy, and my disposition was none the better for the
expenence.