IS EDUCATION NECESSARY TO
BECOME A SUCCESS?
Will the man with the most diplomas and the largest
library in town, be the biggest success?
"NOPE" say my 1,000 successful men and women!
Education won't harm you, all agreed, but it is definitely
not a guarantee of success.
"Book learning" seems to be one thing, but "common-
sense learning" is quite another thing.
In fact, people who have "sense" seem to go places faster
and stay there longer than people with just plain "formal
education,"
The school room is important.
But the streets of experience seem to be better*
Take Ford For Example
I am told that Henry Ford had just six years of what we
call "grammar school" education.
Yet the man made money had friends and did a lot
for humanity.
Would a college education have helped him more?
How could he have done more?
He changed the entire mode of living, for all humanity,
with his Ford automobile.
He made suburbs possible made farms more delightful
to live on, and produced lots of work for road builders.
I think Henry was quite satisfied with his lack of "formal
education."
He didn't miss the college he never attended.
Seven Rules More Important Than Education
While, as I say, don't by-pass formal education, here are
seven rules anyone can put to good use to condition him in
life for what lies ahead:
1. Try to be worth more than your employer pays you.
Think in terms of how much you can do, not how little;
how well you can do it, not how you can "get by."
2. Study the people about you. Be a good listener and
you'll be a good leader.
3. Use your initiative. It's usually better to do something
even if you're sometimes wrong than to do nothing.
4. Avoid petty politics. Squabbles of a personal nature
often cause happy associations to fade.
5. Use good manners. It doesn't cost anything to be
polite and you may be surprised at the results.
6. Be reliable. When an employer has a choice between
an erratic genius and a steady worker, hell usually choose
the person he can count on to do a job every day.
7. Know what you want to do and where you're headed.
How to Become "Educated"
The answer is on the wall in a New York restaurant
where next to a stuffed fish is a sign: "Take a tip from me
I wouldn't be here if had kept my mouth shut!"
You can't learn when your mouth is open. Close it and
you'll add to your education.
Nature deliberately made your mouth to be closed and
your ears to be open. Talk ten seconds and listen ten
minutes.
H. K. Curtis, the famous magazine publisher, was a past
master of these principles. In his youth, as a young ad-
vertising salesman, he made it a point to make a fast but
complete presentation, giving his prospect ample time to
make his decision.
Then he rose quickly and started for the door. He wanted
to be sure that his prospect knew that he would not take
too much valuable time.
Curtis was not abrupt or discourteous, nor did he fail to
cover completely his selling points. He merely excluded all
unnecessary chatter. And most of all - He knew when to
stop talking.
Charles T. Lipscomb Jr., president of the Pepsodent com-
pany, is another who is impressed by the importance of
stopping before your prospect is tired. Charley tells of a
trip he made as a young salesman to the mountains of
Tennessee.
An old timer sitting on nail keg in front of his mountain
store listened to a long sales presentation and finally told
Lipscomb:
"Young feller, I like the product and Fm going to buy
it. But let me give you a word of advice: You talk too darn
much."
What's true in selling is true in everything don't talk
yourself out of success. Listen to what the other fellow has
to say instead* You'll get a real education that way.
Two Steps To Success Without Education
While formal education "never hurt nobody," ambition
and drive will replace a lot of years in school.
Anyone with normal intelligence and who has a reason
to want to be successful can reach the very top if he or
she will work hard enough.
That's been my observation for years and today more and
more social scientists are agreeing.
You will find most men of achievement have a great deal
of steam behind them, although many have had inferior
formal educations.
Charles E. Wilson, former president of General Electric
and U.S. Mobilization chief, never finished high school.
Gen, George Patton, one of our greatest generals, was so
far below average it took him five years instead of the
normal four to finish West Point.
Thomas Mann, the author, was not a good student, while
Albert Einstein was slow even in learning to walk.
Thomas Edison actually was considered stupid by his
father and for the short time he attended school was at the
bottom of his class.
There are hundreds of other successful men I could
mention. But these few examples will help you remember
our success secret for the day.
A friend of mine expresses it this way: A rich man is
nothing but a poor man with money!
Work hard and you can change from poor to rich as
easily as the next man.
Take Old Tom Edison
Good thing Edison was not burdened down with "formal
education/'
He might have figured, with other diplomaed engineers,
that the light bulb could not be invented. According to
engineers, the bumble bee "can't fly" built as he is.
They told the Wright Brothers things couldn't fly, but
the brothers lacked such "learnin' " and just went ahead and
invented the flying machine.
If Tom Edison had gone to an engineering school maybe
he'd have invented the phonograph just a little sooner.
Then again maybe they'd have convinced him, engineer-
ing-wise, that it could not be invented.
I do know they say when Edison made 10,000 tries and
failed, his only remark was: "Now I know 10,000 ways not
to do it!"
Don't By-pass Education
Don't regret not having "book learnin'" under a pro-
fessional teacher.
Many people can't read or study diligently without the
prodding of a teacher, without a daily set time, in a school
room, to study.
Others can take a home correspondence school course
and have the initiative to study by themselves.
Either way, education helps.
Reading newspapers, trade journals, books by mail, gives
you just as much information as going to a school to get it.
Although Ford and Edison and the Wright Brothers and
others may not have had the advantage of going to a col-
lege, they were as educated as any college processor.
Education need not be secured in an ivy hall.
It can be secured just as well in a hall bedroom.
What Is Education Anyway?
Education can be "know-how" on a technical subject that
only books can give you.
Or it can be information you can secure as an apprentice
by working for an experienced "hand."
Some professions require formal education, such as being
a doctor or a dentist. They take training under experts.
Yet some of our best lawyers were self-trained. Take
Lincoln, for example.
To me, education is knowing where to find information.
You can't possibly learn everything in a school room, but
if you learn just one thing: where to find what you want,
then you can be a success.
When at a trial an opposing lawyer tried to prove that
Henry Ford was supposed to be "ignorant'* because he
lacked formal education, Henry sure got back at the lawyer.
When the lawyer asked Henry a lot of fancy questions,
Henry said, "I hire men to find such information for me."
So Don't Miss Education
My little Master Formula, which we are getting closer to
chapter by chapter, doesn't require you to have a formal
education.
I am convinced after talking to so many people who have
made money, and all since the last two wars, that education
is not a requirement to success.
Don't feel that the days of the Ford, the Edison, the
Wanamaker are over with that folks can't make money
"like in the old days." Or that big business is the only place
to make it these days, for shortly I'll cite many, many names
and actual places where "ordinary folks" are making for-
tunes today.
Making fortunes because they ask "how" and never ever
use the word "if."
The Most Practical Diploma is Earned in the
School of Hard Knocks.
