Here is one of the best bits of advice ever given about the fineart of human relationships. “If there is any one secret of success，” saidHenry Ford，“it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of viewand see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”
That is so good， I want to repeat it： “If there is any one secret ofsuccess， it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of viewand see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”
That is so simple， so obvious， that anyone ought to see thetruth of it at a glance; yet 90 percent of the people on this earthignore it 90 percent of the time.
An example? Look at the letters that come across your desktomorrow morning， and you will find that most of them violatethis important canon of common sense.
Here is a letter written by the superintendent of a large freightterminal to a student of this course， Edward Vermylen. Whateffect did this letter have on the man to whom it was addressed?
Read it and then I’ll tell you.
Gentlemen：
The operations at our outbound-rail-receiving station arehandicapped because a material percentage of the total businessis delivered us in the late afternoon. This condition results incongestion， overtime on the part of our forces， delays to trucks， andin some cases delays to freight. On November 10， we received fromyour company a lot of 510 pieces， which reached here at 4：20 P.M.
We solicit your cooperation toward overcoming the undesirableeffects arising from late receipt of freight. May we ask that， on dayson which you ship the volume which was received on the above date，effort be made either to get the truck here earlier or to deliver us partof the freight during the morning?
The advantage that would accrue to you under such an arrangementwould be that of more expeditious discharge of your trucks and theassurance that your business would go forward on the date of itsreceipt.
Very truly yours，
J—B—Supt.
After reading this letter， Mr. Vermylen， sales manager for A.
Zerega’s Sons， Inc.， sent it to me with the following comment.
This letter had the reverse effect from that which was intended.
The letter begins by describing the Terminal’s difficulties， inwhich we are not interested， generally speaking. Our cooperation is then requested without any thought as to whether it wouldinconvenience us， and then， finally， in the last paragraph， the factis mentioned that if we do cooperate it will mean more expeditiousdischarge of our trucks with the assurance that our freight will goforward on the date of its receipt.
In other words， that in which we are most interested ismentioned last and the whole effect is one of raising a spirit ofantagonism rather than of cooperation.
Let’s see if we can’t rewrite and improve this letter. Let’snot waste any time talking about our problems. As Henry Fordadmonishes， let’s “get the other person’s point of view and seethings from his or her angle， as well as from our own.” Here isone way of revising the letter. It may not be the best way， but isn’tit an improvement?
Dear Mr. Vermylen：
Your company has been one of our good customers for fourteenyears. Naturally， we are very grateful for your patronage and areeager to give you the speedy， efficient service you deserve. However，we regret to say that it isn’t possible for us to do that when yourtrucks bring us a large shipment late in the afternoon， as theydid on November 10. Why? Because many other customers makelate afternoon deliveries also. Naturally， that causes congestion.
That means your trucks are held up unavoidably at the pier andsometimes even your freight is delayed.