Jesse James probably regarded himself as an idealist at heart，just as Dutch Schultz， “Two Gun” Crowley， Al Capone and manyother organized crime “godfathers” did generations later. The factis that all people you meet have a high regard for themselves andlike to be fine and unselfish in their own estimation.
J. Pierpont Morgan observed， in one of his analytical interludes，that a person usually has two reasons for doing a thing： one thatsounds good and a real one. The person himself will think ofthe real reason. You don’t need to emphasize that. But all of us，being idealists at heart， like to think of motives that sound good.
So， in order to change people， appeal to the nobler motives. Isthat too idealistic to work in business? Let’s see. Let’s take thecase of Hamilton J. Farrell. Mr. Farrell had a disgruntled tenantwho threatened to move. The tenant’s lease still had four monthsto run; nevertheless， he served notice that he was vacatingimmediately， regardless of lease.
“These people had lived in my house all winter—the mostexpensive part of the year，” Mr. Farrell said as he told the story tothe class， “and I knew it would be difficult to rent the apartmentagain before fall. I could see all that rent income going over thehill and believe me， I saw red.
“Now， ordinarily， I would have waded into that tenant andadvised him to read his lease again. I would have pointed out thatif he moved， the full balance of his rent would fall due at once—
and that I could， and would， move to collect.
“However， instead of flying off the handle and making a scene，I decided to try other tactics. So I started like this： ‘Mr. Doe，’ Isaid， ‘I have listened to your story， and I still don’t believe youintend to move. Years in the renting business have taught mesomething about human nature， and I sized you up in the firstplace as being a man of your word. In fact， I’m so sure of it that I’mwilling to take a gamble.
“‘Now， here’s my proposition. Leave your decision on the tablefor a few days and think it over. If you come back to me betweennow and the first of the month， when your rent is due， and tellme you still intend to move， I give you my word I will acceptyour decision as final. I will privilege you to move and admit tomyself I’ve been wrong in my judgment. But I still believe you’rea man of your word and will live up to your contract. For after all，we are either men or monkeys—and the choice usually lies withourselves！’
“Well， when the new month came around， this gentlemancame to see me and paid his rent in person. He and his wife hadtalked it over， he said—and decided to stay. They had concludedthat the only honorable thing to do was to live up to their lease.”
When the late Lord Northcliffe found a newspaper using apicture of him which he didn’t want published， he wrote theeditor a letter. But did he say， “Please do not publish that pictureof me any more; I don’t like it”？ No， he appealed to a noblermotive. He appealed to the respect and love that all of us have formotherhood. He wrote， “Please do not publish that picture of meany more. My mother doesn’t like it.”
When John D. Rockefeller， Jr.， wished to stop newspaperphotographers from snapping pictures of his children， he tooappealed to the nobler motives. He didn’t， say： “I don’t want theirpictures published.” No， he appealed to the desire， deep in all ofus， to refrain from harming children. He said： “You know howit is， boys. You’ve got children yourselves， some of you. And youknow it’s not good for youngsters to get too much publicity.”
Right here the skeptic may say： “Oh， that stuff is all right forNorthcliffe and Rockefeller or a sentimental novelist. But， I’d liketo see you make it work with the tough babies I have to collect billsfrom！”
You may be right. Nothing will work in all cases—and nothingwill work with all people. If you are satisfied with the results youare now getting， why change? If you are not satisfied， why notexperiment?
At any rate， I think you will enjoy reading this true story toldby James L. Thomas， a former student of mine：Six customers of a certain automobile company refused to paytheir bills for servicing. None of the customers protested the entirebill， but each claimed that some one charge was wrong. In eachcase， the customer had signed for the work done， so the companyknew it was right—and said so. That was the first mistake.
Here are the steps the men in the credit department took tocollect these overdue bills. Do you suppose they succeeded?
1. They called on each customer and told him bluntly that theyhad come to collect a bill that was long past due.
2. They made it very plain that the company was absolutelyand unconditionally right; therefore he， the customer， wasabsolutely and unconditionally wrong.
3. They intimated that they， the company， knew more aboutautomobiles than he could ever hope to know. So what was theargument about?
4. Result： They argued.
Did any of these methods reconcile the customer and settlethe account? You can answer that one yourself. At this stage ofaffairs， the credit manager was about to open fire with a battery oflegal talent， when fortunately the matter came to the attention ofthe general manager. The manager investigated these defaultingclients and discovered that they all had the reputation of payingtheir bills promptly， Something was wrong here—something wasdrastically wrong about the method of collection. So he called inJames L. Thomas and told him to collect these “uncollectible”
accounts. Here， in his words， are the steps Mr. Thomas took：1. My visit to each customer was likewise to collect a bill longpast due—a bill that we knew was absolutely right. But I didn’tsay a word about that. I explained I had called to find out what itwas the company had done， or failed to do.
2. I made it clear that， until I had heard the customer’s story，I had no opinion to offer. I told him the company made no claimsto being infallible.