The successor to the famous American steel giant, Andrew Carnegie of Carnegie Steel, was Charles Schwab. Had only an elementary education, began his career with the company as an odd-job worker. He worked hard, gave his best even to the most mundane of tasks (e.g. cleaned every corner of the company as if it were his own), and always kept his hopes up. In fact, he began to see himself as the owner of the company, and he handled everything from that point of view.
As he continued working hard, Schwab was eventually promoted to full-time work with the company. Even after promotion, he never lost his strong work ethic. He kept his owner-like attitude and continued to work diligently. It wasn't long before he became the "talk of the town."
President Carnegie was deeply touched by what he heard about Charles, and he recruited him to become his personal secretary. Charles was loyal to the president. He constantly reminded himself of his personal motto,"I shall work like the owner of this company and take on the right attitude. If I'm told to go five miles, I shall go ten; if someone asks for my shirt, I shall give him my jacket as well." President Carnegie even offered Charles $100,000 in bonus money at a time when the young man was making only $2000-3000 annually.
As President Carnegie's retirement grew near, everyone wondered who would be his successor. To everyone's surprise, President Carnegie nominated Charles Schwab for the position, a man who had climbed up the ladder from odd jobs to becoming a personal secretary. Actually, the news shocked the whole world. President Carnegie stressed that the successor would be someone not of an educated or intelligent background, but someone who has on an owner-like attitude in all he does and dreams for the company. In short, President Carnegie thought such a person would be his best successor.
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