complete exclusion of the simplicity of the act itself. And so analysis to you and you and YOU has come to mean involved, complex research—running around a lot in circles and getting exactly nowhere. Analysis has become for you an A1 example of the phrase-maker's art.

REAL ANALYSIS of any problem in business can, however, be simple—in fact, it can be nothing else but simple.

Analysis, says Noah Webster, is "a resolution of anything, whether an object of the senses or the intellect, into constituent parts or elements; an examination of component parts, separately or in their relation to the whole."

Whooee! all that when he might have said "TAKING TO PIECES." For analysis is literally that—taking a thing to pieces to see what makes the wheels go round. Not, however, with the destructive intent of the small boy who strews his watch all over the floor, but with the avowed purpose of getting right down to the sort of brass tacks which make it possible to see the composition of the whole clearly and plainly.

Analysis which befogs the issue is not analysis at all. It's—in the vernacular—a lot of "hooey."

But the RIGHT KIND OF ANALYSIS "breaks down" the problem into its component parts—without losing sight of each part's relation to the whole. There may be only two parts to a job of managing. The messenger who analyzes his business correctly will find exactly two: where to go and what to do after he gets there—the simplest kind of problem and the simplest type of business analysis. But if the analysis consisted of twenty pieces instead of two, it would be no harder; it would only be longer.

The production manager in the shoe factory analyzed his job correctly when he mapped out the route of an order. All he did was take the manufacturing process to pieces so that he could put the pieces together again to form a more efficient whole.

So whether there are two or twenty or two hundred pieces, the act of ANALYZING—of TAKING TO PIECES—differs only in the amount of territory it covers. Naturally it will be a somewhat more lengthy process to analyze the job of managing a steel mill than to separate a peanut stand and its operation into a few component parts. But the approach is always the same.

And no matter how good you may be with the woods, how the approach does affect the final score!

Consider for the moment that you have a house built of blocks and want to take it to pieces. A quick and easy way of separating it into its component parts would be a swift kick aimed down around the foundations.

A quick method. But comes nothing. There are all your blocks lying on the floor, but so far as knowing what they're all about, you're worse off than ever you were before you kicked your house down.

The other way of taking your house of blocks to pieces is to start with the roof and WORK BACKWARDS. The very thought, then, of "taking to pieces" suggests the correct way to undertake the analysis of a business or of a job.

And a study of the methods of successful managers will convince the doubtingest Thomas that starting at the top and working down to the cellar is the method they follow in the analysis of any business problem they have to tackle.

Once a busy ceramic manufacturer found himself in the restaurant business. He knew about all there was to know about dinnerware up to the point where it left his customers' counters. What went on after that was pretty much Greek to him if you know what we mean.

And then he became a restaurateur. All because his brother-in-law got into him for several thousand dollars and then couldn't quite seem to make the darned thing pay a profit.

Brother-in-law knew the game. Oh, yes. He had worked for a number of years as assistant manager in a similar enterprise. With his "knowledge of the business," he should have made a success of this cafeteria of his.

He knew how to handle the help, how to buy, how to run the kitchen, and so on. The operating details were as an open book to him. Judged from every outward appearance, the cafeteria was up to standard. It should have climbed out of the red in short order.

He had been taught to buy carefully and to manage economically. "Well bought," he announced, "is half sold." He'd read it in a book and he thought he was being a good salesman. Still the business stayed in the red.

Our ceramic friend was faced with kissing his investment goodbye—and probably with making a job in the pottery for a good restaurant man—with throwing good money after bad, or with getting into the cafeteria business.

He figured this business ought to pay. Somewhere, he knew, his brother-in-law had gone wrong. Just where, he believed he could find out.

So he took over the business. Brother-in-law stayed on, leaving the new owner free to observe.

And he did nothing but observe for a solid week.

Each night he made a list of the points in managing which had come up in the course of the day's work.

In a week's time he had an accurate list of all the actual jobs of managing, as all bills except for gas and light and rent were paid and a profit and loss statement was taken each week.

Then he arranged the list in order of natural importance.

It began with marketing and checking bills with deliveries, and ended with counting the money and depositing it in the bank.

"Hold on," he thought, "this isn't such a long way from running a pottery. What am I in this business for?"

"Because," he answered, "I want to leave as much of that money in the bank as possible, and mark it down as profit."

So right away he started to draw pictures. The chart on this page is the result after he had worked it over and polished it up.

Note how it works backward from his final objective—"Net Profits."

"Now," questioned his alter ego, "how do I determine how much of that money stays in the bank as profit, and how much has to be checked out right away for expenses?"

And from his handy list of managerial functions it was plain that it depended on three things—buying right, selling with as little waste as possible, and keeping expenses down.

"Now we're getting somewhere," he said to himself. "Those things lead me right into my next job—which is to fix prices fairly. For what's the use of buying right, handling supplies carefully and keeping expenses right down to the bone unless my selling prices cover costs, yield a profit, and still look reasonable to the public?"

Yes, and the most attractive prices, backed up by careful buying and all the rest, wouldn't keep the dollars clinking merrily over the counter unless the food was so good and the service so excellent that customers bought liberally and came back for more.

By this time, you'll note, on taking another peek at the chart, he had worked right back to his "Number 1" job—getting more customers in.

Thus, by ANALYSIS, he found out definitely what had to be done—and what had to be done first. Brother-in-law thought he knew, but he had begun at the wrong end. He had been looking after expenditures first and receipts last. He was trying to squeeze a little margin out of his receipts before he did anything about getting the receipts.

How different the new owner's viewpoint! His brother-in-law, he found, was