Foreword 5 CHAPTER I My Beginnings 15 My Beginnings 16 On My Own 23 My Adolescent Dream About Gentlemen 27 How I Became Friend with Machines 34 How I Became Entrepreneur 37 The Time of Searching 41 How Was the First Military Order Received in Zlin 43 How Tomas Bata Perceived the Problem of 1918 47 Enthusiasm 49 Collaborators 52 Heat 54 Bad Times 56 Factory Lunches 57 To My Collaborators! 59 To Our Public 60 Friends! 62 The Road to Improvement 65 The Speech of the Boss to the Participants of a Competition 67 in Cutting on September 17, 1922 Collaborators! 68 Holidays 70 The Profit Sharing of Workers 72 Autonomy of the Workshops 75 CHAPTER II The Organizer 79 Awakened Forces 80 The Fundaments of Self-Management 81 8 Obstacles to Self-Management 83 Education to Affluence 84 Parents and Children 86 Business and Confidence 87 Open Accounting 89 Self-Management of the Workshops 91 Self-Management in Practice 93 Management of the Enterprise 95 Planned Economy 96 Planning 97 Education to Leadership 98 A Perfect Machine 101 Concentration 104 Our Dining Room 107 Labor Regulations 108 Study of Mathematics 113 CHAPTER III The Industrial Manager 115 Freedom of Trade 119 What Do I Wish to Our Business? 122 Technical and Organizational Progress in the Production 126 Obstacles to Progress in Production 129 Cheating in Business 131 Bata’s Views on Transportation 134 Why to Spend 10 Billion Crowns on Road Construction? 135 Transportation, Roads and People 139 My Economic Philosophy 141 Friendship in Holland and in Holland 145 and in Our Country CHAPTER IV The Educator 149 The Object of Schools 151 The Purpose of Education 153 Training in Economic Management 156 School and Family 157 Remarks on School Reform 159 Savings-Management 162 Property and Knowledge 164 Speech to Engineering Apprentices 165 The Evening Business School 167 The Business School 168 Construction, Education, Housing 170 The School for Young Men 172 New Education 173 To Young Men About to Choose Their Career 174 Young Men! 175 The Road to Honor, Power and Wealth 177 Personal Discipline and Improvement 180 How to Become an International Entrepreneur 181 Let us Learn from the Best 182 Sense of Enterprising and Work 184 Health and Peace Through Self-Discipline 185 t CHAPTER V The Citizen 187 Communal Elections in Zlin in 1923 191 Our Enterprise and the Town of Zlin 192 Friends! 196 Our Work Program 198 Greater Zlin 201 The Municipal Elections of 1927 203 More Confidence 204 Cooperation Between Industry and Agriculture 207 Our Needs and Agriculture 209 The New Agricultural Production 210 New Thinking 211 Our New Work Program 212 The Growth of Business and Crafts in Zlin 215 The Trade Question 216 The Zlin of Old 218 Citizens 220 Why a Greater Zlin? 221 My Goal 223 How I Look at Our Municipal Government 225 CHAPTER VI The Statesman 227 Public Accounting 230 The Land Budget and Investments 233 Project of the Organization of Land Finances 236 My Donation for the Acquisition of Telephones 239 Why Do I Oppose a Land Loan Issue 240 for 250 Million Crowns The Main Problems of Land Economic Management 243 The Value of Civic Honor 248 The Regulation of the Management of Moravian Waterways 252 Moravians! 254 Project 260 CHAPTER VII The Pioneer 261 The First Trip to India in 1925 264 From Holland 269 America-Europe 272 The Flight to India in 1931 275 The First Day of the Airtrip 276 Aviation and Human Interdependence 279 Christmas over the Desert 281 The Future of the Desert 283 The Journey from Egypt to Palestine 284 From Bushire to Beludshistan 286 Fleeing a Storm 287 Taurus 290 From the Indian Notebook 294 After Return 296 CHAPTER VIII The Collaborator 297 Labor Day Holiday 298 Collaborators! 300 Friends! 302 Friends and Collaborators 303 My Collaborators-Our Dear Guests 305 The Guilt is Primarily Mine 306 Friends! 308 My Collaborators, Our Dear Guests 309 Friends and Collaborators 311 The Last Labor Day of Tomas Bata 312 The English Way in Comparison With Our 314 Financial Reconstruction of Banks 317 Enough Money But Little Trust 319 Correspondence 320 Leaving the Job-Failure at Work-Firing 321 Defender 323 New Production Trends 324 The Falsified Certificate of Proficiency 326 12 My Reply 328 The Anti-Bata Congress of Shoemakers in Brno 329 To the National Shoemakers Congress in Prague 332 My Recollections 335 Open Letter 338 CHAPTER IX The Man 343 My Relationship to Work 348 Bata and Edison 350 Funeral Observance for Thomas Alva Edison in Zlin 351 The Duties of Leaders 352 The Method of Justice 354 Americanism 356 Cold - Mountains - Heroism 357 Machines and People 358 Problems with Using Machines 362 The Successor Problem 365 The Last Message 366 The Personality of Tomas Bata and His Family 368 The Batas - Shoemakers for 300 Years 371 The Work Continues 373 Preface 375 Editorial Team 379 Editorial Note 381 Acknowledgements 381 13