Here is one of the best bits of advice ever given about the fine art of human relationships.“If there is any one secret of success，”said Henry Ford，“it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”
That is so good，I want to repeat it：“If there is any one secret of success，it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”
That is so simple，so obvious，that anyone ought to see the truth of it at a glance；yet 90percent of the people on this earth ignore it 90percent of the time.
An example？Look at the letters that come across your desk tomorrow morning，and you will find that most of them violate this important canon of common sense.
Here is a letter written by the superintendent of a large freight terminal to a student of this course，Edward Vermylen.What effect did this letter have on the man to whom it was addressed？Read it and then I’ll tell you.
Gentlemen：
The operations at our outbound-rail-receiving station are handicapped because a material percentage of the total business is delivered us in the late afternoon.This condition results in congestion，overtime on the part of our forces，delays to trucks，and in some cases delays to freight.On November 10，we received from your company a lot of 510pieces，which reached here at 4：20P.M.
We solicit your cooperation toward overcoming the undesirable effects arising from late receipt of freight.May we ask that，on days on which you ship the volume which was received on the above date，effort be made either to get the truck here earlier or to deliver us part of the freight during the morning？
The advantage that would accrue to you under such an arrangement would be that of more expeditious discharge of your trucks and the assurance that your business would go forward on the date of its receipt.
Very truly yours，
J—B—Supt.
After reading this letter，Mr.Vermylen，sales manager for A.Zerega’s Sons，Inc.，sent it to me with the following comment.
This letter had the reverse effect from that which was intended.The letter begins by describing the Terminal’s difficulties，in which we are not interested，generally speaking.Our cooperationis then requested without any thought as to whether it would inconvenience us，and then，finally，in the last paragraph，the fact is mentioned that if we do cooperate it will mean more expeditious discharge of our trucks with the assurance that our freight will go forward on the date of its receipt.
In other words，that in which we are most interested is mentioned last and the whole effect is one of raising a spirit of antagonism rather than of cooperation.
Let’s see if we can’t rewrite and improve this letter.Let’s not waste any time talking about our problems.As Henry Ford admonishes，let’s “get the other person’s point of view and see things from his or her angle，as well as from our own.”Here is one way of revising the letter.It may not be the best way，but isn’t it an improvement？
Dear Mr.Vermylen：
Your company has been one of our good customers for fourteen years.Naturally，we are very grateful for your patronage and are eager to give you the speedy，efficient service you deserve.However，we regret to say that it isn’t possible for us to do that when your trucks bring us a large shipment late in the afternoon，as they did on November 10.Why？Because many other customers make late afternoon deliveries also.Naturally，that causes congestion.That means your trucks are held up unavoidably at the pier and sometimes even your freight is delayed.