Source text in English | Translation by Mark Daniels & Sladjana Daniels (#10342) — Winner |
I remember reading once that some fellows use language to conceal thought, but it's been my experience that a good many more use it instead of thought. A businessman's conversation should be regulated by fewer and simpler rules than any other function of the human animal. They are: Have something to say. Say it. Stop talking. 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, and the first is a short cut to the second. I maintain a legal department here, and it costs a lot of money, but it's to keep me from going to law. It's all right when you are calling on a girl or talking with friends after dinner to run a conversation like a Sunday-school excursion, with stops to pick flowers; but in the office your sentences should be the shortest distance possible between periods. Cut out the introduction and the peroration, and stop before you get to secondly. You've got to preach short sermons to catch sinners; and deacons won't believe they need long ones themselves. Give fools the first and women the last word. The meat's always in the middle of the sandwich. Of course, a light butter on either side of it doesn't do any harm if it's intended for a man who likes butter. Remember, too, that it's easier to look wise than to talk wisdom. 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. Give most men a good listener and most women enough note-paper and they'll tell all they know. Money talks -- but not unless its owner has a loose tongue, and then its remarks are always offensive. Poverty talks, too, but nobody wants to hear what it has to say. | Sećam se da sam pročitao kako neki koriste govor da bi prikrili svoje misli, ali po mom iskustvu mnogo je više onih koji ga koriste kao zamenu za razmišljanje. Pravila kojima podležu poslovni razgovori treba da je manje i da su jednostavnija nego pravila za bilo koju drugu funkciju životinje zvane čovek. Ona glase: Spremi šta ćeš reći. Reci. Ućuti. Trgovac koji počne da govori a ne zna šta hoće da kaže, ili nastavi da priča nakon što je rekao šta je imao, završiće na sudu ili spasti na prosjački štap, a prvo je prečica do drugog. Imam svoju pravnu službu i ona predstavlja veliki trošak, ali tu je da ne bih imao posla sa zakonom. Kada svratiš kod devojke ili ćaskaš sa prijateljima nakon večere, možeš da vodiš razgovor kao da ste na đačkom izletu na kom povremeno zastajete da berete cveće. Ali na poslu, tvoje rečenice treba da predstavljaju najkraće rastojanje između dve tačke. Izbaci uvod i zaključak, i zaustavi se pre nego što dođeš do tačke broj dva. Grešnike ćeš zadobiti kratkim propovedima, a đakoni ni ne smatraju da su im potrebne duge. Budalama daj prvu, a ženama poslednju reč. Meso se uvek nalazi u sredini sendviča. Naravno, malo putera na obe strane neće zasmetati ukoliko je namenjeno onome koji voli puter. Zapamti i da je lakše ispasti mudar nego govoriti mudro. Pričaj manje od svog sagovornika i više slušaj nego što govoriš, jer kada čovek sluša on ne razotkriva sebe, a podilazi sagovorniku koji upravo to čini. Većini muškaraca nađi nekog ko ume da ih sasluša, a većini žena daj dovoljno papira za pisanje - i reći će ti sve što znaju. Novcem se može mnogo reći, ali samo kada njegov vlasnik ne zauzdava jezik, pri čemu je ono što kaže uvek uvredljivo. I siromaštvo bi imalo šta da kaže, ali to niko ne želi da čuje. |