© Elliot Essman 2005. All rights reserved.

These pages contain the complete 2005 revised text of Building Yourself, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's guide to living the successful life.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
Building Yourself Table of Contents
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• Millions are fascinated by the plan to transform the whole world into a bureau, to make everybody a bureaucrat, and to wipe out any private initiative. The paradise of the future is visualized as an all-embracing bureaucratic apparatus. Streams of blood have been shed for the realization of this ideal. Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973)

Bureaucrats and clerks are similarly numerous. They can ruin your best laid plans. And just like the wild yeasts that can ruin my beloved home brew, if you ignore them, they won't just go away. If you resent them, they won't even notice. But, as my beer gets brewed, so my life is lived. I do what I can to maintain the integrity of my brew. I do the same with my life. You can also. You can learn to deal with bureaucrats and clerks, or anyone else hemmed in by organizational thinking.

Yes, you must follow bureaucratic rules if you want what bureaucrats have to give. But if you learn their ways of doing things, you can get the most out of their rules. A great key to working with clerks is to learn who is in power. Learn what the clerk's hot button is, what kind of behavior on your part gets things done. Learn how to make the clerk feel important and powerful. Make friends with the clerk. If you master these techniques, you can give a little and get a lot back in return. Many people—from social activists to savvy business owners—become adept at working bureaucracy at its many levels. But to ensure your own success, you must follow their lead. The gut feeling to ignore or battle bureaucracy can be very strong in a person of integrity and independence. Your task is to invest some time and effort in learning to deal with clerks so you can maximize your other time and effort doing what you really have to do.

As a working example, let’s take the organization everybody hates. You know the one I mean. First, let's get one thing straight: The Internal Revenue Service doesn't tax your income, the Congress in Washington does. Nor does the IRS spend the money. It only collects the money. There are many sensible things you can do to remain informed on tax issues and to plan your affairs to legally minimize tax. If you have trouble with the IRS, you have many rights. If you insist on being angry and resentful at the IRS, you waste your time. The IRS isn't a person. It doesn't have feelings to hurt. The people in the IRS are used to taxpayers becoming angry and abusive with them. That kind of thing doesn't impress them. They'll respond favorably to you if you calmly and politely insist on your rights.

Every agency, every institution, all of the powers that be, can be dealt with. They're powerful, but you can take the sting out of them if you learn how. If you have to do a lot of paperwork, get it over with instead of getting all hot and bothered about it. Manage your affairs efficiently so you'll cut paperwork and bureaucratic red tape down to a minimum.

A historical analogy can be helpful here. In 1938 at the Munich Conference, Adolf Hitler pressured England and France to let him grab part of Czechoslovakia. The British and French figured this policy of “appeasing” Hitler would bring peace. Of course it did not. In the 1960's, the foreign policy of the United States was one of not backing down to Communist aggression. “No more Munichs!” was the rallying cry in Vietnam. Unfortunately, the North Vietnamese also believed in “No more Munichs.” The result was a war the United States couldn't win without taking unacceptable losses.

The lesson is clear. Sometimes you just can't give in to bullies and pressure. But the wise person knows the right time to resist, and the right time to work with the enemy. The “No more Munichs” philosophy won't work with clerks. You have to appease them, learn how they work, and get on top of their methods. That's not really any harder than it is for me to sterilize the equipment I use to brew my beer. If you don't do the work you need to do to learn to deal with them on the best possible level, the clerks will be on top of you, making your life miserable.