Page 78 - Forbes - Asia (March 2020)
P. 78
THOUGHTS ON
Morale
“Keep buggering on.” “My expectations were
76 Winston Churchill reduced to zero when
I was 21. Everything since
then has been a bonus.”
“The term ‘morale’ is never
used except in reference Stephen Hawking
to soldiers or people in
analogous positions, such “Military power wins battles,
as employees of large but spiritual power wins wars.”
corporations or prison George C. Marshall
inmates. No one ever
talks about the morale of
participants in a passionate “We either make ourselves
love affair.” miserable, or we make
ourselves strong. The
P.J. O’Rourke
amount of work is the same.”
Carlos Castaneda
“The greater part of our
happiness or misery
depends upon our “No soldier outlives a
dispositions and not upon thousand chances. But
our circumstances.” every soldier believes in
Chance and trusts his luck.”
Martha Washington
Erich Maria Remarque
“About a third of my cases are
suffering from no clinically “Happiness in intelligent
definable neurosis, but people is just about the
from the senselessness and rarest thing I know.”
emptiness of their lives. This Ernest Hemingway
can be defined as the general
neurosis of our times.” “A cheerful heart is good
Carl Jung medicine, but a crushed
spirit dries up the bones.”
Gimbel’s Gambit
“The best morale exists Proverbs 17:22
when you never hear the
January 1, 1948
word mentioned. When you
hear a lot of talk about it, good boss has to know how to handle
it’s usually lousy.” FINAL THOUGHT
Dwight Eisenhower A people considerately to get maximum re-
sults,” boomed Bernard F. Gimbel, 62, the
183cm, 95kg president of Gimbel Bros.
“Phrases like ‘the team
spirit’ are always employed department stores. Gimbel, a former
to cut across individualism, Penn fullback and wrestler, had guided his family’s chain
love and personal loyalties.” from its humble roots in Philadelphia to a preeminent
Muriel Spark spot in New York City retail, fighting neighborhood rival
Macy’s every step of the way. His management theory:
“If you are distressed by “As Gimbel’s head man, it’s my job to be a builder-upper,
anything external, the pain to strengthen the morale of my team, never to repri-
is not due to the thing
itself but to your estimate mand anyone in public, to give everyone a clearheaded,
of it; and this you have followable conception of what has to be done.” Gimbel
the power to revoke at any would retire five years later with his stores’ sales having “Into which path shall
workers be turned—the
moment.” grown 40 times over, to $600 million (nearly $6 billion one that leads to construc-
Marcus Aurelius in today’s money), during his tenure. tive effort, ambition
and contentment, or the
one that leads to mental
“Morale is good; troops idleness, dissatisfaction
are confident; leaders SOURCES: GIVE WAR A CHANCE, BY P.J. O’ROURKE; MEDITATIONS, BY MARCUS and Bolshevism?”
are capable.” AURELIUS; THE SCIENCE OF SECOND GUESSING, NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE,
DECEMBER 12, 2004; THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, BY MURIEL SPARK; ALL —B.C. Forbes
John Abizaid QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, BY ERICH MARIA REMARQUE; THE GARDEN OF
EDEN, BY ERNEST HEMINGWAY.
F ORBES A SIA MAR CH 2020
