The Go-Getter

When life throws you obstacles—unfair situations, missing information, or impossible deadlines—how do you respond? Do you make excuses, or do you find a way to get it done, no matter what? Peter B. Kyne’s The Go-Getter is a short, lively story with a powerful message: those who succeed never stop at 'impossible.' They make things happen, regardless of setbacks, limitations, or bureaucracy. Kyne’s work isn’t just fiction; it’s a philosophy of persistence and self-starting action—a philosophy often referenced in leadership and business training for nearly a century.

Kyne contends that true success depends less on formal education or titles and more on an unconquerable will—the ability to say, “It shall be done.” The heart of the story revolves around William E. (Bill) Peck, a one-armed, war-disabled veteran who exemplifies this spirit. Despite physical loss and social rejection, Peck’s attitude and drive turn him from a charity case into a symbol of unstoppable competence. His story unfolds within the lumber empire of the sharp-tongued Cappy Ricks, whose test of character reveals the type of person every organization desperately needs—and often fails to recognize.

Setting the Stage: A Business in Trouble

At the beginning, Alden P. “Cappy” Ricks, a retired lumber magnate, is exasperated with the incompetence he sees in his successors, Matt Peasley and Skinner. Together, they face the fallout of misjudged hires and the collapse of overseas management. Their Shanghai manager absconds with company funds, highlighting the gap between theoretical leadership and real-world initiative. Cappy’s lament is clear: too few people today have the boldness and courage to take ownership. The company needs a 'go-getter'—someone who can deliver results even when the usual paths fail.

Enter William Peck: The Man Who Won’t Quit

When Bill Peck lobbies for a job, he doesn’t plea for sympathy as a wounded veteran—he sells himself with confidence. His pitch is bold: “I’m not an object of charity; I can sell anything, starting with myself.” Despite multiple rejections by Skinner and Peasley, Peck’s persistence earns him a place in Cappy’s company. Ricks, who recognizes potential when he sees it, gives the young man a difficult assignment as a test: sell the unsellable “skunk spruce”—the lumber no one wants. It’s an overnight metaphor for adversity: if Peck can turn this liability into an asset, he’s proven his worth.

Predictably, he does. Peck’s grit and creativity result in surprising sales success, even where experienced hands have failed. Yet Cappy has bigger plans. He needs someone to manage the troubled Shanghai office, a role that requires not just business skill but tremendous endurance and independent judgment. To test Peck’s true character, Cappy devises the now-famous “Blue Vase Test.”

The Blue Vase: A Test of Character

The Blue Vase mission is simple on the surface: obtain and deliver a particular vase to Cappy by a specified time that evening. But beneath its simplicity lies a cascade of intentional barriers—locked stores, incorrect addresses, missing shop owners, and absurd costs—that make success seemingly impossible. Every obstacle has been engineered to test Peck’s tenacity, ingenuity, and refusal to make excuses. He must act without guidance, find creative solutions, and persist through exhaustion and humiliation.

What follows is a marathon of resilience. Peck spends hours locating the right store among countless “Cohens” and “Cohns,” calls dozens of strangers, negotiates through closed doors, raises impossible funds, and even pawns his diamond ring as collateral. When he can’t deliver on time, he charters a plane overnight to chase Cappy’s departing train, finally collapsing as he delivers the “blue vase” at 2 a.m. The critical irony? The vase cost only fifteen cents—it was never about the object, but about proving the man.

The Lesson: The Essence of the Go-Getter

Through Peck’s ordeal, Kyne captures the essence of self-starting character—what modern business thinkers call proactive initiative (Stephen Covey’s First Habit in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People echoes this idea). The go-getter does not wait for permission, complain about difficulty, or measure fairness; he acts. He delivers. This ethos contrasts sharply with the timid or complacent mindsets common in many workplaces. Ricks’ entire philosophy of management revolves around identifying people who embody this spirit because he believes one such person is worth more than dozens of passive employees.

Why It Matters Today

The reason The Go-Getter remains relevant is simple: the world still rewards drive over complaint, creativity over compliance. Every ambitious person encounters their own version of the “blue vase test,” whether it’s a tough project, a skeptical boss, or personal failure. The question is whether you’ll stop when things get unfair—or find a way regardless. Kyne’s timeless argument is that success belongs to those who embody the philosophy of Peck’s late brigadier general and Cappy himself: “It shall be done.”

Cappy Ricks, the fiery patriarch of Ricks Logging & Lumber Company, embodies business experience and old-school grit. Though officially retired, he can’t stop meddling because he despises mediocrity. Cappy’s frustration begins when his executives, Skinner and Peasley, fail to control their people abroad—culminating with the theft and collapse of their Shanghai branch. For Cappy, this crisis exposes a larger disease: complacency. His problem isn’t a lack of manpower; it’s the absence of initiative.

Judging Men vs. Testing Them

Cappy’s philosophy is simple: “A man’s value begins where supervision ends.” He sees modern managers like Skinner as too cautious—obsessed with experience and seniority instead of courage and spirit. In his view, opportunity should go to those willing to prove themselves rather than those who have merely ‘served their time.’ This belief leads him to design practical tests to reveal true mettle—a method both ruthless and fair. Where Skinner relies on resumes, Ricks relies on results.

When he chooses Andrews, a safe but unproven young man, to replace the disgraced Shanghai manager, Cappy’s instincts tell him it’s a mistake. “Test him,” he growls—and when Skinner dodges the challenge, Ricks vows to find a genuine go-getter himself. This introduction of testing by action builds to the story’s heart: the Blue Vase challenge.

A Leader Who Demands Ownership

Ricks’s leadership style predates today’s 'extreme ownership' philosophy popularized by Navy SEAL Jocko Willink. He believes everyone must treat the company’s problems as personal responsibilities. Even in his retirement, he refuses to let age exempt him from mental engagement. When others blame market conditions or labor strikes for failure, Cappy calls it “whining.” The only acceptable response to any task is simple: find a way.

In modern terms, Cappy would be considered a disruptive mentor—one who deliberately pushes employees beyond comfort zones to measure what they’re made of. His tests, though controversial, are designed to expose integrity, initiative, and perseverance under real-world pressure, not artificial evaluation.

Creating a Culture of the Go-Getter

Ultimately, Ricks isn’t looking for obedience; he’s searching for those rare self-motivated souls who thrive on challenge. In creating a culture where only results matter, he crystallizes the book’s driving principle: you can’t teach hunger—you can only recognize it. This conviction drives every scene in the story and ultimately defines what makes someone indispensable to any organization.

William E. Peck’s first encounter with Cappy Ricks is a masterclass in persuasive self-belief. A wounded veteran missing an arm and partially disabled, Peck refuses to ask for pity. Instead, he approaches Ricks like a salesman: confident, humble, and prepared to back every claim with evidence. His line—“Before selling your goods, I must first sell you on me”—isn’t just clever rhetoric; it’s the essence of personal accountability.

Earning a Chance

Peck’s persistence earns him a reluctant posting under Mr. Skinner, whose coldness contrasts sharply with Ricks’ fiery enthusiasm. Skinner assigns him to sell “skunk spruce”—the most unsellable wood in the company. This “poisoned” product symbolizes how society often tests underdogs with impossible odds. Peck accepts gladly, seeing challenge, not insult. Within weeks, his reports fill the office with surprise: he secures orders from tough customers, including oil derrick clients across Texas. What’s striking is not just his success but his method—he listens, adapts, and frames each sale in terms of the buyer’s gain rather than his desperation.

The Fighter’s Mindset

Peck’s background as a soldier pervades his civilian attitude. He lives by military principles: loyalty upward, persistence under pressure, and the refusal to accept defeat. “It shall be done,” his brigadier’s motto, becomes his personal creed. Whether facing pain, bureaucracy, or disapproval, he treats every obstacle as an enemy position to be taken. This attitude transforms his disability into a strength. Where others see limitation, Peck sees proof of resilience.

His story reflects one of Kyne’s enduring arguments: character outlasts circumstance. Peck’s success is not because he has fewer problems but because he acts despite them. Many leadership trainers today cite this principle as the foundation of “grit” (popularized by Angela Duckworth), combining perseverance and purpose into the most reliable predictor of achievement.

Transformation Through Effort

By the time Cappy revisits his progress, Peck has already proven himself as more than a good salesman—he has become evidence that adversity can forge greatness. In turning humiliation into motivation, he establishes the ethos that drives the rest of the story and becomes the perfect candidate for the greatest test of all: the Blue Vase experiment.

At the heart of The Go-Getter lies the immortal “Blue Vase” test: a meticulously planned ordeal designed to measure more than skill—it measures spirit. Cappy Ricks invents the test to see whether William Peck, his promising employee, truly deserves the highest position available: manager of the Shanghai branch. It’s not a task meant to be fair. It’s an engineered labyrinth, built to expose every weakness except the one that matters—willpower.

The Impossible Mission

Cappy asks Peck to purchase a specific blue vase from a shop that’s supposedly easy to find and deliver it to him before his evening train departs. What Peck doesn’t know is that nearly every element of the task is a setup: the wrong address, the shop locked for the weekend, the owner engaged elsewhere, and, later, the price inflated tenfold. It’s a labyrinth of frustration, created not to humiliate but to reveal what a man does when stripped of guidance and convenience.

Peck’s odyssey is maddening. He scours the city, calls countless shopkeepers, negotiates with uncooperative clerks, begs reluctant acquaintances, and runs against time itself. When told the vase costs $2,000—an absurd figure—he doesn’t protest. Instead, he hustles to pawn his ring as collateral. When all else fails, he charters an airplane through the night to intercept Ricks’ train before dawn. Exhausted but victorious, he delivers the vase at 2 a.m., fulfilling every instruction literally and honorably.

A Lesson in Character, Not Completion

The second twist comes when Peck discovers the truth: the vase’s true value is fifteen cents, and the entire mission was a hoax. Most people would explode in anger or quit in humiliation—and Peck nearly does. Yet Ricks’ revelation transforms the insult into enlightenment. The test was never about obedience; it was about demonstrating complete responsibility under impossible conditions.

Plenty of employees work hard when terms are fair. Few persist when life is irrational, unfair, and exhausting. The 'Degree of the Blue Vase,' as Ricks calls it, is the ultimate exam of loyalty, ingenuity, and adaptability—the qualities that make Peck indispensable as Shanghai manager. It reminds readers that greatness often emerges not in success but in how one responds to contrived failure.

The Moral Economy of the Go-Getter

Modern readers can see in this test a blueprint for extreme ownership and resilience training. Whether in military culture or corporate leadership programs, similar simulations test integrity through adversity. Kyne’s message remains timeless: Life’s greatest rewards are reserved for those who deliver results despite every obstacle placed in their path.

Peck’s personal motto—borrowed from his wartime brigadier—captures the book’s spiritual nucleus: “It shall be done.” In three short words lies an entire philosophy of effective action. Unlike promises or excuses, the phrase translates directly into commitment. When given a mission, you don’t debate or stall; you complete it. This principle, repeated throughout the book, transforms simple work into devotion and separates the followers from the leaders.

Building Leadership through Obedience

Kyne draws from military discipline to show how loyalty flows downward from good leadership, and upward through earned trust. As Peck explains, “An organization is what its commanding officer is—neither better nor worse.” In essence, leadership isn’t about orders but example. Cappy Ricks, though a businessman, leads with the same ethos as Peck’s brigadier: demanding the impossible not from cruelty but belief in potential.

This philosophy mirrors modern military and corporate leadership frameworks, where culture 'filters down' from the top. If a boss embodies relentlessness and integrity, the team follows. If leaders fear risk or comfort themselves with excuses, mediocrity spreads quickly. Ricks knows this intuitively and uses the Blue Vase test to ensure the top represents the bottom’s best.

The Cost of Loyalty

While loyalty is central, Kyne reminds readers it’s not blind obedience but partnership. Peck’s loyalty never contradicts self-respect. Even when pushed to the edge, he refrains from quitting or retaliating. His devotion to finishing the job—despite deception—earns not submission but empowerment. True loyalty, the story teaches, is symbiotic: the worker gives everything, the leader rewards it with opportunity and trust.

Living the Motto

In the end, Peck’s “It shall be done” replaces complaint with ownership. It’s the antidote to passivity, the practical application of integrity in action. Whether your mission is closing a sale, leading a team, or facing hardship, Kyne’s message applies: excuses waste energy; execution builds destiny.

The Go-Getter was published in 1921, yet its themes of persistence, loyalty, and initiative resonate powerfully in the 21st-century workplace. In an age of rapid change, automation, and remote work, the core question it asks—'Who will go the extra mile when no one is watching?'—is more relevant than ever. Kyne’s storytelling distills what psychological research and leadership theory have since echoed: success is not about intelligence or opportunity but about self-driven action.

A Timeless Blueprint for Modern Resilience

Companies today invest billions in identifying 'high performers'—the people who don’t need motivation to move mountains. Kyne’s little book shows you what such a performer looks like in narrative form. Peck would thrive in start-ups, special forces, or nonprofits alike, because his mindset transcends context. He embodies emotional intelligence, grit, and an unbreakable internal compass—traits now seen in leadership models from Simon Sinek’s 'Start With Why' to Dan Pink’s 'Drive.'

A Mirror for Any Reader

Perhaps the book’s potency comes from its relatability. Everyone faces a Blue Vase moment—an illogical challenge, a closed door, an impossible project—and each moment asks, “Will you find a way, or find an excuse?” We recognize Bill Peck not as a historical caricature but as the reflection of our best potential selves: tired, frustrated, yet unimaginably persistent.

From Literature to Leadership Manual

Over a century later, The Go-Getter still appears in management courses, corporate retreats, and motivational programs because it makes one truth impossible to ignore: attitude outperforms ability. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or employee, this story is a parable for taking ownership when nobody else will. Kyne leaves readers with one timeless challenge—when faced with the impossible, be the one who says: 'It shall be done.'