THE PRINCIPLES OF LEADERSHIP Z2Z

Surplus Spirit — ^There are now and then men
of so much virility of body and spirit that they are
unable to expend enough of it on the ordinary
day*s affairs — ^and the surplus often gets them into
trouble. A good leader tries to accommodate them
with enough hard work and play to keep them
comfortably steady, while the poor leader, blind to
human nature, punishes their derelictions without
effort at remedy, and gives them a reputation for
deviltry, and even for worthlessness. Yet these
very men were capable of tremendous exertions for
good had they been properly directed. War always
astonishes the community by bringing such cases
of reputed worthlessness to the fore in often bril-
liant performance. These men found in the de-
mands of war enough to engage all their surplus
energies; and because of this very store of surplus
energy they were able to outdo their fellows. Giv-
ing men work to "keep them out of trouble" is as
wise a saying as it is homely — ^and is well worth
remembering when you find some man looking for
trouble. It is a well known trick in the army to
call up some wild lad who is always getting into
mischief, arouse his pride by finding some element
of his personality to praise and rely on, and then
put him in charge of a squad of men or even ap-
point him a corporal. Nine times out of ten he



122 mahpower

will react to this responsibility by giving unusual
service. The difficulty is to find opportunity so to
promote a seemingly bad man as not to establish
an unfortunate standard of performance for win-
ning promotion. Such are the interesting things
in leadership.
