The Go-Getter: A Story That Tells You How To Be One
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About this ebook
The classic motivational parable (over 500,000 copies sold worldwide) that shows you how to make your own opportunities in life, updated for the modern reader by bestselling business author Alan Axelrod
Ever since its first printing by William Randolph Hearst in 1921, The Go-Getter has inspired employees and entrepreneurs to take initiative, increase their productivity, and excel against the odds. Now, more than half a million copies later, Alan Axelrod, bestselling author of Patton on Leadership and Elizabeth I, CEO, updates the tale to address today's most pressing work issues.
In The Go-Getter, Bill Peck, a war veteran, persuades Cappy Ricks, the influential founder of the Rick's Logging & Lumbering Company, to let him prove himself by selling skunk wood in odd lengths-a job that everyone knows can only lead to failure. When Peck goes on to beat his quota, Rick hands Peck the ultimate opportunity and the ultimate test: the quest for an elusive blue vase. Drawing on such classic values as honesty, determination, passion, and responsibility, Peck overcomes nearly insurmountable obstacles to find the vase and launch hia career as a successful manager.
In a time when jobs are tight and managers are too busy for mentoring, how can you maintain positive energy, take control of your career, and prepare yourself to ace the tests that come your way? By applying the timeless lessons in this compulsively readable parable, employees at all levels can learn to rekindle the go-getter in themselves.
Peter B. Kyne
A native of San Francisco, Peter B. Kyne was a prolific screenwriter and the author of the 1920 bestseller Kindred of the Dust. His stories of Cappy Ricks and the Rick's Logging & Lumbering Company were serialized in The Saturday Evening Post and William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan magazine. He died in 1957.
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Reviews for The Go-Getter
7 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I finished this book in a couple of hours, but found it helpful. I can see why Dave Ramsey has all of his new hires read the book. If only more workplaces were run in a similar manner!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Now here is a story about a man that refused to quit; refused to give up on his dream/goals; and did it with integrity. Granted, he was up against some people that lacked some of the same integrity and yet he still manages to win the day. Highly recommended and a short read!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Always a good and quick read about persistence and the lessons we can learn from Bill Peck!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good insight on personal leadership. Create great self awareness in order to succeed in my career.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5My workplace gave all employees a copy of The Go Getter and encouraged us to read the book and to come up with our own "Blue Vase." There was also apparently a short story by P.G. Wodehouse of the same name and so to avoid confusion I found a couple of places that referenced this book by Kyne as Winning the Blue Vase. Other versions add the (original?) subtitle "A Story that Tells You how to Be One."The book is a very short read (only about 70 pages) and our edition came with an afterword of another ~15 pages of commentary. The story is a parable/fable like tale. It tells the story of war veteran William "Bill" Peck and his efforts to get a job at a Logging & Lumber Company. The company is owned by "Cappy" Ricks but Cappy has delegated out normal management roles to two vice presidents. The book was written and is set in the time immediately following World War One. The book begins with Cappy berating his acting upper management team for their poor choices and their inability to find worthwhile employees. Shortly after that, Peck arrives on the scene asking Cappy for a job. However, he does more than just "ask" for a job. He comes to Cappy without an appointment and basically tells Cappy that Peck is the man for whatever job Cappy wants to throw at him. There are other details as well (Peck had already talked with the other vice-presidents and been turned down, he had a great working knowledge of Cappy's business, etc.) but the short of it is that Cappy is very intrigued by Peck and gives him a chance. However, at the same time, he makes the job as difficult as possible by giving Peck what is considered (as I understood it) the worst sales assignment in the company.I don't want to go through the whole plot with you (it's a short book…and it seems to be in the public domain if you want to read it online for free). But I will say what you've already guessed from the title of the book…Peck continues to impress Cappy and goes on to impress the other vice presidents. At which point, Cappy gives him "the test of the blue vase." The test is a simple personal task that Cappy asks Peck to do, namely to go and purchase a blue vase from a shop window and bring it to Cappy. However Cappy throws all sorts of obstacles in the way to test Peck's ingenuity and resolve.The story is a cute little tale and it does include a number of quippy little comments that can be used as motivational blurbs. The afterward in my edition expounds on the concepts of the book in case you failed to make the leap from the fiction of the story to the moral and practical lesson it's trying to teach. The actual lesson being taught is actually fairly simple and straightforward on paper. It basically involves setting your eye on the prize and doing whatever it takes to get there. In addition it's the idea that you should go above and beyond just the status quo…that you should attempt to exceed expectations, not simply meet them (or worse, fail to meet them). When given an assignment, you should give it your all and do the best you can without excuses. When you see an opportunity, you should leap at the chance to stretch and grow even if it's outside your comfort zone or expertise.Bottom line (as I take it) you should not "settle", you should not "coast." Life should always consist of your best effort, your best talent, your best energy. There will always be obstacles, sometimes more than others. Bill Peck's motto (as taught him by his general in the war) was "it shall be done." Even if he'd never done it before or if nobody had ever done it before, he always went into a task that he could and would finish the task and no matter the obstacles, he continued trying to find a way to complete the task even when others may have given up. He continued after the blue vase even when everything was against him and his allotted time was up. And eventually, he succeeded.This is a fun little read and I can see the reason that employers might want their employees to read it. It's definitely a simple read with a simple message, but it's a worthwhile message.***3 out of 5 stars