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From IBT PrimeMOVER LEAN SIX SIGMA
I know that the world is flat, that it is possible to go from good to great, that somebody moved my cheese, and all about Freakonomics. The whole saga of Toyota’s production system has been impressed on my mind, as have Covey’s Seven Habits. I know all about getting things done and the theory of execution. My wife accuses me of being so busy reading about work that I don’t seem to have much time to do any. She may have a point. But, occasionally, I’ll come across some bit of reading that really makes me sit up and take a look at the world through a different lens. Often, the book has some new way of thinking or analyzing the world of business.
The book is The Go-Getter: A Story That Tells You How to Be One. It was written by Peter Bernard Kyne and published by William Randolph Hearst in 1921. The book is a short one; I read it in little more than one hour. It is not a self-help book or an advice book in the common sense. It is more of a parable and it teaches an impressive and inspiring lesson. I related to the idea of the book because it resonates with the history and culture of IBT. Our founder, F. L. Cloud was a go-getter from the get-go. He started IBT, as Industrial Bearing and Transmission in 1949, at age 28. And he went at building the business with an energy and a commitment that created an initial and sustainable success. The spirit of the go-getter, as exemplified by Forrest L. Cloud, is carried on through the subsequent generations of the family and all of his associates. The idea of being a go-getter is in our company DNA. The Go-Getter tells the story of William “Bill” Peck, a disabled American veteran of World War I. Peck lost an arm, damaged his leg, suffered from TB, and got very little encouragement in looking for work. It barely slowed him up. The book deals with how his overwhelming spirit, self-confidence, never-say-die attitude and incredible persistence in the face of adversity ultimately prevailed in his quest for a new life. Eighty-six years after the book was originally published, it is still a good read. The language is a bit stilted and the characters are a tad overdrawn, but the story it tells and the lessons it teaches are as valid today as ever. And, I suspect, that they will also be relevant in eighty-six more years. All Books Available through Amazon.com
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