[ { "chunk": 32, "story": 4, "summary": "The son's brief letter pleases the father, who gives his rules for business talk: have something to say, say it, stop talking.", "predicament": "Someone doing business must decide how much to say, knowing that every word past the point can be turned against them.", "advice": [ { "move": "start talking before you know what you want, or keep on after you have said it", "outcome": "it lands you in a lawsuit or in poverty", "quote": "Beginning before you know what you want to say and keeping on after you have said it lands a merchant in a lawsuit or the poorhouse", "stance": "avoid" } ] }, { "chunk": 33, "story": 4, "summary": "Listen more than you talk; in their first weeks new clerks either learn how little they can do and keep the job, or hold their place and start reaching for the next one.", "predicament": "In their first weeks at a new job, someone learns either how little they can get away with or how to reach higher.", "advice": [ { "move": "say less and listen more than the other person", "outcome": "you give nothing away and flatter the one talking", "quote": "Say less than the other fellow and listen more than you talk; for when a man's listening he isn't telling on himself and he's flattering the fellow who is.", "stance": "do" }, { "move": "hold your own job firmly while reaching for the one above", "outcome": "it marks you as the one worth advancing", "quote": "holding down his own place with one hand and beginning to reach for the job just ahead of him with the other", "stance": "do" } ] }, { "chunk": 34, "story": 4, "summary": "The first year should be driven like a trotting race: start steady, build pace, and be running hardest at the finish when promotions and raises are chosen.", "predicament": "Someone starting their first year of work must pace themselves to finish strong when promotions are decided.", "advice": [ { "move": "start at a steady pace you can improve on, and build to the finish", "outcome": "you are among those promoted at the year's end", "quote": "Never start off at a gait that you can't improve on, but move along strong and well in hand to the quarter.", "stance": "do" } ] }, { "chunk": 35, "story": 4, "summary": "A good first impression matters, but there is no love at first sight in business: a job worth having takes coming early, staying late and long steady work.", "predicament": "Someone new at work wants quick recognition, though nothing there is won without long, steady showing up.", "advice": [ { "move": "come early, stay late and keep at it a long time", "outcome": "that is the only way to win a place worth having", "quote": "A man's got to keep company a long time, and come early and stay late and sit close, before he can get a girl or a job worth having.", "stance": "do" } ] }, { "chunk": 36, "story": 4, "summary": "The father's old roommate neglected his counter job to dream up overnight fortunes, and was forever offering to let the father in on the ground floor for a small stake.", "predicament": "A friend full of get-rich-quick schemes offers to let you in on the ground floor if you will stake them.", "advice": [ { "move": "accept an offer to be let in on the ground floor", "outcome": "the safe course is to stay well clear", "quote": "whenever any one offers to let you in on the ground floor it's a pretty safe rule to take the elevator to the roof garden", "stance": "avoid" } ] }, { "chunk": 37, "story": 4, "summary": "Years later the schemer, seedy and eager as ever, offers shares in a paper gold company and leaves with a ten-dollar loan; nobody can think for the firm by day and for himself by night.", "predicament": "Someone spends their nights scheming at private ventures while drawing wages for the work they are paid to think about.", "advice": [ { "move": "lend a chronic schemer a little rather than hire them", "outcome": "it costs you less", "quote": "I have always found it cheaper to lend a man of that build a little money than to hire him.", "stance": "do" }, { "move": "think for your employer by day and for your own schemes by night", "outcome": "you end up poor at both, and the employer loses most", "quote": "A man who tries that is usually a pretty poor thinker, and he isn't much good to either", "stance": "avoid" } ] }, { "chunk": 38, "story": 4, "summary": "The son is to report to a touchy foreman who resents taking on a man he has not chosen; the father will give him pointers first.", "predicament": "Someone is being placed under a superior who resents having a newcomer imposed on them without being asked.", "advice": [] } ]