“Office Etiquette for Business Women”

“Etiquette in an Office” of the day featured in a newspaper.

Good Manners Essential to Success

The great majority of successful business men and women have been and are possessors of strong personalities of the right sort, and by analyzing their climb to success it is amazing to discover how large a part good manners, good breeding and correct behavior have had in helping them to win the goal. There are, naturally, men and women who have reached the top by other than unselfish or courteous means, but they are in the minority and their perch is frequently a precarious one.

Value of Courtesy and Tact 

Courtesy also includes tact, an indispensable attribute if one is to attain even the slightest degree of success in the world. Tact has been occasionally spoken of as a somewhat hypocritical trait, but it need not necessarily be so. A tactful person is one who must exercise good judgment in “sizing up” a proposition, a present circumstance, the temper of a certain group of people or the idiosyncrasies of a particular individual. Such a person will make no move to antagonize, but will instead bring the utmost courtesy to bear in meeting the demands of the occasion. By this consideration, this polite and tactful manner of dealing with the issue in hand, he will be able to win others to his point of view or, at least, to make a favorable impression that can be productive of good results in his future. On the contrary, by rudeness, by a display of selfishness and a lack of the right consideration for the feelings of others one is deliberately closing and double-locking the door to every good the future may hold.

It is not in the business world alone that the little courteous habits we form add to the charm of our personality, for once such habits are formed we shall carry them with us everywhere. They will give us added value in the world outside the office; they will bring us added affection from our friends and even our immediate family. For we have, after all, to live in a very crowded world today we are being jostled on every side by men and women of all sorts and conditions and if we do not want to sink below the surface of the great tide of humanity, if we want instead to raise ourselves a little above it, we cannot afford to neglect anything which will serve to mark us favorably from among those surrounding us. The men and women who do this are those of outstanding personalities.

Opening the Door to Opportunity

Personality is the magic key that will open all the doors to opportunity and success. Of course courtesy alone will not build personality, one may be perfectly courteous and still be negligible; but there is rarely found a man or woman of fine personality who does not also show a courteous con sideration for others, a real kindness in his or her dealings with them and a genuine interest in matters which concern them. Each of us has to come into contact with so many different people every day of our busy lives that we should make almost any effort to draw them to us and to make a good and lasting impression on them. In many offices a woman's greatest chance of success rests with this power she has of making a good impression on the business men and women who have personal dealings with her employer.

Some men and women have been fortunate in being endowed at birth with a personality that all the world might envy; others have to develop personality as they go through life. And there is no royal road to its attainment; but by being, among other things, courteous, tactful and really interested in others, one can learn the full meaning of this undefined word and can enjoy to the utmost the advantages it will procure. – From “Office Etiquette for Business Women,” by Ida White Parker, 1924

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia