When I was nine years old, I loved to go fishing with my dad. But the only thing that wasn’t very fun about it was that he could catch many fish while I couldn’t catch anything. I usually got pretty upset and kept asking him why. He always answered, ”Son, if you want to catch a fish, you have to think like a fish.” I remember being even more upset then because, “I’m not a fish!” I didn’t know how to think like a fish. Besides, I reasoned, how could what I think influence what a fish does?

As I got a little older I began to understand what my dad really meant. So, I read some books on fish. And I even joined the local fishing club and started attending the monthly meetings. I learned that a fish is a cold-blooded animal and therefore is very sensitive to water temperature. That is why fish prefer shallow water to deep water because the former is warmer. Besides, water is usually warmer in direct sunlight than in the shade. Yet, fish don’t have any eyelids(眼皮) and the sun hurts their eyes…The more I understood fish, the more I became effective at finding and catching them.

When I grew up and entered the business world, I remember hearing my first boss say, “We all need to think like salespeople.” But it didn’t completely make sense. My dad never once said, “If you want to catch a fish you need to think like a fisherman.” What he said was, “You need to think like a fish.” Years later, with great efforts to promote long-term services to people much older and richer than me, I gradually learned what we all need is to think more like customers. It is not an easy job. I will show you how in the following chapters.

“Everything happens for the best,” my mother said whenever I faced disappointment. “If you carry on,one day something good will happen. And you’ll realize that it wouldn’t have happened without that previous disappointment.”

Mother was right,as I discovered after graduating from college in 1932. I had decided to try for a job in radio,then work my way up to sports announcer.I hitchhiked(搭便车) to Chicago and knocked on the door of every station and got turned down every time.

In one studio,a kind lady told me that big stations couldn’t risk hiring an inexperienced person.“Go out in the sticks and find a small station that’ll give you a chance,” she said.

So I returned to my hometown—Dixon,Illinois. While there was no radio­announcing jobs in Dixon,my father said Montgomery Ward had opened a store and wanted a local athlete to manage its sports department.The job sounded just right for me. But I wasn’t hired.

My disappointment must have shown. “Everything happens for the best,” Mom reminded me.I tried WOC Radio in Davenport,Iowa.The program director named Peter MacArthur told me they had already hired an announcer.

As I left his office, my frustration boiled over. I asked aloud, “How can a fellow get to be a sports announcer if he can’t get a job in a radio station?”

I was waiting for the elevator when I heard MacArthur calling,“What was that you said about sports? Do you know anything about football?” Then he asked me to broadcast an imaginary game before a microphone. As a result, I did a wonderful job, and was told to broadcast Saturday’s game.

On my way home,as I have many times since,I thought of my mother’s words.I often wonder what direction my life might have taken if I’d gotten the job at Montgomery Ward.

2002 it was, and I, a young girl who set out with the idea of getting my own library card, was permitted by my mother, Nichelle Nichols, to walk the mile from Prince George to the library in nearby Port Perry.

Down the street from Port Perry High was the library—a dark-brown brick building, imposing to a child of only seven years old.

To the left of the sidewalk was a series of steps that I climbed to push through a heavy door into a very large room filled with books. To an older lady I said, “I’d like a library card, please.”

She replied, “The children’s section is downstairs.”

“But I want adult books, because I can read.”

“Well, you are a child. You can’t get a card up here.”

“I’m six and I can read and write.”

“Go along child,” she said in a pleasant but authoritative voice.

I found the side door and walked in, seeing short and low shelves full of children’s books. Upon opening one, I read, “See Spot run. Run Spot. Run.” I opened another book. It read, “Once upon a time there was.” Sighing quietly, I walked out and back up to the main desk. By now, it was getting dark and I had to hurry.

“You’re back.” said the librarian.

“Yes. I will make you a deal. You hand me any book you like. If I can read a paragraph in it, you’ll give me a library card.” Shrugging (耸肩) happily, she handed me a thick book, I opened it and began to read. When I finished, the lady took the book back without a word.

I waited for a while and finally the lady stood up, handing me two cards. On one was printed the days and times the library was open to adults, and on the other were the precious words, Bonita Sue Nichols. I thanked her and quickly left the library.