We so often hear people discussing the merits of this or that business, finance, insurance, real estate, transportation, manufacturing, or communication, as though they’ve lost sight of the fact that regardless of the type of business you choose, you’re still in the people business. If you don’t want to succeed with people, you don’t succeed in business.

Supplying human needs and desires is what makes the world go around as far a living successfully is concerned. To be successful, we need to give a person more in use value than it costs him in money. If a person does not place a higher value on what you’re selling than on what you’re charging for it, he won’t under ordinary circumstances, pay you for it. Or if a person or an organization cannot earn an increment of profit on your efforts as an employee, you will not be hired or maintained in a job. A profit must be earned on everything. There’s no middle ground.

A fundamental impulse of all humans is based on a desire for more. People are seeking out of life, whether it's more food, a better car, a bigger house, or stylish clothes—more out of life. This is the way life is. Without it we would cease to exist.

The normal desire for more is not an evil thing, it is simply the desire for a better quality of life. Because it is their nature, all men and women are attracted to the person who can give them more of that better quality of life. That is to be found the secret of success in business. The question is, “How can I give more, more in quality, more in quantity, more in new and better and more creative ways?”

People who feel they’re not getting their just dues need to take a look at the quantity and quality of their service, at whom they’re serving and in what numbers. We need to be giving more in use value than we’re charging for what we produce, or people won’t buy it. It must be something they need or want, as good, or better than they can get somewhere else. It’s here that the imagination comes into play. If we simply get in line and copy others in our line of work, we must settle for minimal results and slow growth. But if we can come up with new, fresh, appealing ideas, more helpful ideas, ideas that enhance and increase the value of what we’re selling, our business will grow rapidly, and we will quickly outdistance our competitors.

If we’re in business—even if we’re not—we’re in the people business. If we hope to succeed as persons without creating new and interesting ideas, we’re going to have to rely on time and the ideas of others. It’s a much slower, much riskier, less interesting process.