another bank, and if by next week this plan had fallen through I would
be strongly in favour of selling to a bigger bank. "But you are
inconsistent," said my colleagues. My answer is that what the business
needed was life and movement at all costs, and that buying or selling,
consistency or inconsistency were neither here nor there.

The prominent capitalist is often open to this particular charge. On
Wednesday, says the adversary, he was all for this great scheme; on
Friday he has forgotten all about it and has another one. This is
perfectly true--but then between Wednesday and Friday the weather has
changed completely. Is the barometer fickle or inconsistent because it
registers an alteration of weather?

Nevertheless, the men of affairs who follow facts to success rather than
consistency to failure must expect to pay the penalty. Or at least, if
they are to avoid the punishment for being right they must take enormous
precautions.

The principle penalty is the prompt criticism that although the
successful business man plays the game with vigour, nerve, and sinew,
yet he plays it according to his own rules. The truth is that there is
no other way in which to play the game. Fluidity of judgment, adversely
described as fickleness and inconsistency, is the essence of success.

But the criticism is damaging. There are only two ways of combating it,
the wrong one and the right one. The wrong method is that of
hypocrisy--claiming a consistency which does not exist. The right one is
to cultivate the art of pleasing, so that inconsistency may be forgiven.
Friends may thus be retained though business policies vary. This is the
highest art of financial diplomacy.