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1-Page Summary of A Message To Garcia
Overview
The next time you feel resentment towards your boss, try to put yourself in their shoes. Are you making their job easier or harder? Maybe there’s a reason for the way they act that you’re not aware of. It’s 1899 and Elbert Hubbard is writing an essay on how to be a good person. He was previously a traveling salesman and would soon start his own publishing company that would help him become one of the most influential writers of the 20th century.
The title of Hubbard’s essay is curious. It inspired two early movies and was also an inspiration for many people who helped shape the United States, including industrialist John D. Rockefeller, car manufacturer Henry Ford and President Teddy Roosevelt. His essay was reprinted more than any other book besides the Bible during his lifetime.
These key points bring Hubbard’s messages into a new light for us in the twenty-first century. Garcia is who we should all look up to, and he brought Hubbard a message about manual labor being good for you. One experiment shows that some people are too lazy to do what they’re supposed to do, but another experiment proves that it’s okay not to be perfect.
Big Idea #1: A phrase that is often used in the workplace is “a message to Garcia.” It refers to an episode of a man named Andrew Rowan who was very efficient at his job.
You might be wondering who I am and why you should care. To answer those questions, we have to look back at a notable incident during the Spanish-American War.
In 1898, President McKinley wanted to recruit Cuban rebels to fight for the American cause. Spain ruled Cuba at the time, so recruiting those rebels would have been a valuable military asset.
The President asked military leaders to contact a rebel leader named Calixto Garcia. It would be difficult, however, since there was no way to get an American soldier through Cuba during war times and they didn’t know where he was exactly.
Colonel Arthur L. Wagner was in charge of finding a person to deliver the message for Garcia. Andrew Rowan was chosen because he was able to accomplish this mission despite his lack of questioning what the message meant or why it needed to be delivered.
Lieutenant Rowan is an example of someone who works hard. He went beyond the call of duty to deliver a message and should be held up as a model for all employees. If you don’t work hard, you will suffer consequences.
Big Idea #2: Employers are always looking for ways to identify lazy and incompetent workers.
Not all factory workers are victims of the system. They may bring their desperation upon themselves.
Many workers are incompetent and feel entitled to certain things. You can see this in a simple experiment: ask six people who work below you to do some research on the life of Antonio da Correggio, an Italian Renaissance painter. They’ll probably fire off some unnecessary questions: “Which encyclopedia?”; “Is it my job to do that?”, etc.
Even if you patiently answer these questions, they’ll probably still try to find someone else to do it. They’re lazy and incompetent anyway. You should just read the encyclopedia article yourself instead of dealing with their laziness and incompetence.
Employers can tell when their workers are slacking off. They’ll get fired if they don’t work hard enough. People with the grit to survive in business will always be able to deliver a message to Garcia, even if it’s difficult.
If you’re always complaining and being negative, it’s likely that you’ll be fired. Employers are constantly on the lookout for weaker employees who aren’t pulling their weight. Incompetent employees waste valuable resources as well.
