January marks the 300th birthday of Benjamin Franklin – American patriot, printer, journalist, scientist, inventor, philosopher, philanthropist, statesman, diplomat and author. Born in Boston on Jan. 17, 1706, he spent most of his life in Philadelphia and Europe, where he played a key role in getting the French government to support the American Revolution.
In his day, Franklin was famous for his publication of “Poor Richard’s Almanack,” which contained a host of wise sayings that are just as applicable today. Some of my favorites include:
*The things which hurt, instruct.
*No gain without pain.
*Lend money to an enemy, and thou’ll gain him; to a friend, and thou’lt lose him.
*It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.
*He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.
*If you won’t listen to good fortune, it will surely rap your knuckles.
*Remember that time is money.
There are many lessons to be learned from Benjamin Franklin – in business and in life.
When Franklin was 7 years old, he was given a small gift of money. He went immediately to a toy shop and, being charmed by the sound of a whistle being blown by another boy, he paid all of his money for one just like it.
Franklin went home much pleased with his purchase and proceeded to drive everyone in the house crazy by constantly blowing his whistle. His pleasure was soon ended when his family told him he had paid four times more for the whistle than he should have.
“This discovery,” said Franklin, “gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure.”
During Franklin’s long career, he became a wealthy businessman, a respected scientist and an admired American diplomat in the royal courts of France and England. But, despite his many successes, he never forgot the lesson of the whistle.
“When I saw a man sacrifice everything for royal favor,” Franklin said, “I would say to myself, ‘That man gives too much for his whistle.’
“When I see misers giving up every kind of comfortable living, all the pleasure of doing good to others, all the esteem of his fellow citizens, and the joys of benevolent friendship for the sake of accumulating wealth, I say to myself, ‘Poor man, you pay too much for your whistle.’
“In short,” said Franklin, “I conceived that a great part of the miseries of mankind were brought upon them by the false estimates they have made of the value of things, and by their ‘giving too much for their whistles.’ ”
But of all the lessons we can learn from Benjamin Franklin, the most useful may be how to negotiate. I have negotiated hundreds of deals in my career. With skills like his, I would have loved to have old Ben on my team.
At the end of the Revolutionary War, Franklin was appointed to head the diplomatic team that went to Paris to work out a treaty with the British.
The negotiations were difficult from the beginning. The Americans wanted all the British territory from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, fishing rights off New England and Canada, and non-harassment of American commercial ships on the high seas.
On the other hand, the British had little to gain by formally recognizing the new American government.
Despite the obstacles, Franklin succeeded in hammering out an agreement with the British. But when the time came for putting pen to treaty, Lord Shelburne, who represented the British, balked and began to walk out of the room.
“Just a minute,” said Franklin. “First you had better settle your bill.” And Franklin dug into his traveling case and pulled out, one by one, hundreds of itemized records of American houses requisitioned by the British during the war, warehouses taken over, barns burned, wagons appropriated and horses seized.
Lord Shelburne looked at them, sighed, and then signed the treaty, saying, “You’re a hard man, Franklin.”
Ben Franklin was also an ageless wonder. He published his first newspaper column when he was 16, and had the honor of framing the U.S. Constitution when he was 82. His accomplishments in between are the reason we will mark his 300th birthday.
Mackay’s Moral: One of my favorite bits of advice from Ben Franklin: “Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.”
Harvey Mackay is author of The New York Times best seller “Pushing the Envelope.” He can be reached through his Web site: www.mackay.com; or Mackay Envelope Corp., 2100 Elm St., Minneapolis, MN 55414.
