I’m now halfway though the book “Ben Franklin’s 12 Rules of Management.” In this series I am bringing forth some of the thoughts and techniques that are written in each chapter.

Today’s chapter follows the basic idea that everybody wants to appear reasonable. We want other people to think that we’re ‘guided by reason rather than custom and superstition.’

The first bit of advice we are given is to stop using the phrase, “I feel like we should…” and instead start things with, “I think that based on … we should …” The basic idea here is simple, even though you will make the same argument, in the second way it is more based on reason to those around you.

The chapter gives an instance where Ben Franklin uses this method of convincing people to stop drinking during the day. He worked in a printing press in London for a while where some of the men would drink 6 pints of Ale in a day. And 5 of those were before they were even done with the work day! They had assumed that it kept them productive and fed. Ben came along drinking water, eating bread, being more productive, and saving money, that convinced some of the men to switch over to his ways. Others simply took out a weekly loan with interest from Ben to pay for their beer.

The next topic is based on the idea that people around us will affect our own behavior. That is one reason that Ben didn’t want to associate with heavy drinkers, he knew he would be more likely to drink as a result. Franklin spent a considerable amount of time working to surround himself with self-educating, hard working, frugal, and purpose driven people.

The ending of this chapter gives a warning about being reasonable too far in advance. There are always conditions such as weather that we can’t anticipate accurately in the long run. So you must remember that reason has its limits.

Next Thursday, I’ll have the next chapter for you, “Becoming a Person of Value”