Narrator: Imagine being given a simple task by your new boss on a Sunday afternoon: go to a specific shop, buy a particular blue vase, and bring it to him before his train leaves that evening. It seems straightforward enough. But what if the shop is closed? What if the address is wrong? What if the owner is nowhere to be found, and when you finally track him down, he tells you the vase is in a different store, locked up for the night? What if your colleagues refuse to help you, and you need to come up with thousands of dollars in cash on a Sunday night to complete the purchase? This isn't just a series of unfortunate events; it's a meticulously designed test. And your entire future depends on one thing: delivering that blue vase. This is the central trial in Peter B. Kyne's classic business parable, The Go-Getter, a story that explores what it truly means to have initiative and the unshakeable will to see a task through to completion, no matter the obstacles.

Narrator: The story begins not with a hero, but with a problem. Cappy Ricks, the semi-retired but ever-present patriarch of a vast lumber and shipping empire, is deeply frustrated. He feels he is surrounded by "mental duds," managers who lack foresight and initiative. The catalyst for his frustration is an incident in the company's Shanghai office. The manager there, a man named Henderson, has proven to be a disaster. Despite being a good salesman, he was a poor manager, indulging in drinking and gambling until he ultimately absconded with 130,000 taels from the company's bank account.

While Cappy had the foresight to insure the company against such a loss, the event exposes a deeper issue for him. His top executives, Mr. Skinner and Matt Peasley, failed to see the warning signs. Furthermore, when discussing a replacement, Skinner hesitates to promote a promising young man named Andrews simply because he's only thirty. This infuriates Cappy. He declares, "This is a young man's world, Skinner, and don't you ever forget it. The go-getters of this world are under thirty years of age." Cappy believes his management team has become too cautious, too reliant on seniority, and unable to identify or test for the single most important quality a person can have: the drive to get things done. This crisis sets the stage for his personal quest to find a true "go-getter" to run the vital Shanghai office.

Narrator: Into this environment walks William E. Peck, a disabled World War I veteran. Peck has already been turned down for a job by both Skinner and Peasley, who see only a man with a missing forearm and a company with no open positions. But Peck is not easily deterred. He bypasses the chain of command and secures an interview with Cappy Ricks himself. When Cappy asks what he wants, Peck’s reply is direct and confident: "I've called for my job."

Peck proceeds to sell Cappy on the one thing he has to offer: himself. He acknowledges his physical limitations and his late start in the business world due to the war, but he frames his experience not as a liability, but as a testament to his resilience. Cappy is impressed by his directness, his humor, and his refusal to make excuses. He sees a spark of the initiative he’s been looking for. In a classic Cappy Ricks maneuver, he calls in a reluctant Mr. Skinner and, using his considerable influence, instructs him to hire Peck. He makes it clear to Peck, however, that this is no act of charity. He warns him with a baseball analogy: "The first time you tip a foul, you'll be warned... and the third time you'll be out—for keeps." Peck, undeterred, simply quotes a line about not letting the day be lost and immediately sets off to start work, demonstrating the very eagerness Cappy values.

Narrator: Cappy and Skinner decide to test Peck immediately. They don't give him a prime territory or an easy product. Instead, they assign him the company's most undesirable inventory: "skunk spruce." This is a low-quality lumber from Humboldt County, described as coarse, stringy, wet, heavy, and possessing an unpleasant smell. It's a product the trade "doesn't want as a gift." The assignment is a deliberate challenge, designed to see if Peck's confidence is just talk or if he has the resourcefulness to back it up.

Peck accepts the challenge without complaint. When Cappy informs him of the product's terrible reputation, Peck’s simple response is, "I can sell anything—at a price." He is then sent to the Southwest, a territory where the company has little presence. Within two months, the results are undeniable. Peck not only sells the unsellable skunk spruce but also opens up entirely new accounts for mining timbers in Arizona and secures a massive order for oil derricks in Texas. He proves to be a phenomenal salesman. Even the perpetually skeptical Mr. Skinner has to grudgingly admit, "Comrade Peck can sell lumber." Cappy, seeing his initial hunch confirmed, overrules Skinner's desire to wait on a salary increase and insists Peck be paid what he's worth immediately. Peck has passed the first test, but Cappy has a far bigger role in mind for him, which requires a final, definitive trial.

Narrator: Having proven his sales ability, Peck is now a candidate for the Shanghai manager position. To confirm he has the absolute loyalty and relentless ingenuity required, Cappy initiates his ultimate test: "The Degree of the Blue Vase." The test begins on a Sunday. Cappy has his general manager, Skinner, feign illness and summon Peck to his home. While there, Peck takes a call from Cappy, who is supposedly about to leave for Santa Barbara. Cappy gives Peck the seemingly simple errand: buy a specific blue vase from a shop on Sutter Street and deliver it to him at the train station before his 8:00 PM departure.

From that moment on, Peck is plunged into a nightmare of deliberate obstacles. The shop address is wrong. When he finds the correct one, it's closed. He embarks on a frustrating, hours-long search for the owner, a man named B. Cohn, only to be met with a web of misdirection. When he finally locates the vase, it's in a different store, and he needs two thousand dollars in cash to buy it. It's Sunday night. He calls his managers, Skinner and Peasley, for help, but both offer excuses and refuse to assist, as per Cappy’s secret instructions. Undeterred, Peck’s military-ingrained motto, "It shall be done," takes over. He manages to get the shop opened, secures the money through his own means, and, having missed the 8:00 PM train, charters an airplane in the middle of the night. He flies south, overtakes the train, and boards it at a stop in the early hours of the morning. He walks into Cappy Ricks's train car and presents him with the blue vase.

A stunned Cappy Ricks reveals the truth: the entire ordeal was a test. The vase was a cheap piece of pottery. The obstacles—the wrong address, the unhelpful colleagues, the policeman guarding the shop to prevent him from breaking in—were all part of an elaborate setup. Peck didn't just complete the task; he demonstrated a level of resourcefulness and unwavering commitment that went far beyond any normal call of duty. He had earned the Degree of the Blue Vase and, with it, the job as the new Shanghai manager.

Narrator: The single most important takeaway from The Go-Getter is that an individual's value is ultimately measured not by their resume, their experience, or their qualifications, but by their unwavering spirit of initiative. It’s the ability to hear the words "it can't be done" and respond with a quiet, determined focus on how "it shall be done." Bill Peck succeeds because he never sees obstacles as stop signs; he sees them as problems to be solved. He embodies the idea that true competence is the fusion of loyalty to the task and the creative persistence to see it through.

The story leaves us with a challenging question: How would we fare in our own "blue vase" test? When faced with a seemingly impossible task and a wall of resistance, do we look for the exit, or do we, like Bill Peck, look for the airplane? The answer reveals the difference between someone who simply has a job and someone who is a true go-getter.