Superior Attitude (Andrew Carnegie) - 1.229

The young Andrew Carnegie, later to become one of the great captains of 19th century industry, began his climb to the top working in a telegraph office.

"...John P. Glass, manager of the front office, depended more and more upon Andrew to handle some of the routine administrative details of the office. Andrew now received the messages from the operating room and assigned them to the other boys for delivery. He was sensitive enough to perceive that the other messengers resented his authority, his penurious habits, and his officious meddling in their affairs, but, although he might have like to have been popular among his associates, he was much more concerned with his relationship to his superiors."(1)

Like most people, the fourteen-year-old boy wanted to be liked. However, he understood early, that in business it was more important to be respected by your superiors than to be liked by your peers.

(1)Joseph Frazier Wall, Andrew Carnegie (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1989), p. 93.