nd on whether he
requires to be coddled in doing his work, or whether he is willing and
able to stand on his own feet. The man for whom every employer of men is
searching, everywhere and always, is the man who will accept the
responsibility for the work he has to do--who will not lean at every
point upon his superior for additional instructions, advice, or
encouragement.

There is no more valuable subordinate than the man to whom you can give
a piece of work and then forget about it, in the confident expectation
that the next time it is brought to your attention it will come in the
form of a report that the thing has been done. When this master quality
is joined to executive power, loyalty, and common sense, the result is a
man whom you can trust. On the other hand, there is no greater nuisance
to a man heavily burdened with the direction of affairs than the
weak-backed assistant who is continually trying to get his chief to do
his work for him, on the feeble plea that he thought the chief would
like to decide this or that himself. The man to whom an executive is
most grateful, the man whom he will work hardest and value most, is the
man who accepts responsibility willingly, and is not continually under
his feet.

AS A SUPERIOR OFFICER

The principles of effective administrative work have never, so far as I
know, been adequately classified and defined. When they come to be
stated one of the most important will be found to be the exact
assignment of responsibility, so that whatever goes wrong the
administrative head will know clearly and at once upon whom the
responsibility falls. This is one of the reasons why, as a rule, boards
and commissions are far less effective in getting things done than
single men with clear-cut authority and equally clear-cut
responsibility. Another principle, so well known that it has almost
become a proverb, is to delegate everything you can, to do nothing that
you can get someone else to do for you. But the wisdom of letting a good
man alone is less commonly understood. It is sometimes as important for
the superior officer not to worry his subordinate with useless orders as
it is for the subordinate not to harass his superior with useless
questions.

Let a good man alone. Give him his head. Nothing will hold him so
rigidly to his work as the feeling that he is trusted. Lead your men in
their work, and above all make of your organization not a monarchy,
limited or unlimited, but a dem