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Overview
Are you feeling stuck in a mental rut, yearning for a richer, happier, and more fulfilling life? For nearly a century, one classic guide has provided the indispensable roadmap for personal and professional growth: Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People.
This book addresses the fundamental need for training in the fine art of getting along with people in everyday business and social contacts. Dealing with people is often cited as the biggest problem faced by individuals, whether they are in business, engineering, or working as a housewife. Investigations supported by the Carnegie Foundation revealed that even in highly technical fields, about 85 percent of financial success is attributed to skill in human engineering — to personality and the ability to lead people.
Drawing on extensive research, interviews with famous leaders (like Franklin D. Roosevelt and Thomas Edison), and the real-world experiences of thousands of adults in Carnegie’s courses, this resource provides principles that “work like magic”. The overarching goal is action, not mere knowledge, helping you discover and develop dormant, unused assets.
Who's it for
This revolutionary training is designed for anyone who recognizes that success hinges on human relations skills. Specifically, this guidance is invaluable for:
- Business and Professional Individuals: The courses were originally conducted for business and professional men and women seeking to increase their influence and ability to get things done.
- Technical Professionals: Even those in highly technical lines such as engineering, accountancy, or architecture will find that the ability to express ideas, assume leadership, and arouse enthusiasm directly leads to higher earning power.
- Salespeople and Executives: Countless salespeople have sharply increased their results, and executives have gained increased authority and pay by applying these truths.
- Partners and Parents: The principles apply directly to making one’s home life happier.
- The Self-Starter: This book is for those with a deep, driving desire to learn and a vigorous determination to increase their ability to deal with people. The principles will aid you in leading a richer, fuller, and more fulfilling life.
The path to influence and popularity is structured around fundamental techniques, practical ways to inspire liking, and methods for persuasion without conflict. Here are some of the most powerful principles:
Fundamental Techniques in Handling People:
- Don’t criticise, condemn or complain. Criticism is futile because it makes a person defensive, and it is dangerous because it wounds precious pride and arouses resentment. People almost never criticise themselves, no matter how wrong they may be.
- Give honest and sincere appreciation. The deepest urge in human nature is the craving to be appreciated — what John Dewey called the “desire to be important”. This honest appreciation is the “legal tender that all souls enjoy”.
- Arouse in the other person an eager want. The only way on earth to influence others is to talk about what they want and show them how to get it. You must think in terms of the other person’s point of view.
Six Ways to Make People Like You:
- Become genuinely interested in other people. You can make more friends in two months by showing sincere interest in others than in two years by trying to get people interested in you.
- Smile. A genuine smile is a heartwarming messenger of good will. People who smile tend to manage, teach, and sell more effectively.
- Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language. Call a person’s name easily, and you have paid a subtle compliment.
- Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves. Exclusive attention to the person speaking is highly flattering.
- Talk in terms of the other person’s interests. The royal road to a person’s heart is discussing the things he or she treasures most.
- Make the other person feel important — and do it sincerely. This is the one all-important law of human conduct, rooted in the Golden Rule.
How to Win People to Your Way of Thinking:
- The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it. Argumentation seldom changes minds and usually results in loss of goodwill.
- Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say, ‘You’re wrong.’ Telling someone they are wrong strikes a direct blow at their pride and self-respect. Instead, begin by saying: “I may be wrong. Let’s examine the facts”.
- If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically. Admitting mistakes not only clears the air but often inspires a generous, forgiving attitude from the other person.
- Begin in a friendly way. As Abraham Lincoln noted, “a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall”.
- Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers. People prefer to feel that they are buying of their own accord or acting on their own ideas, rather than being sold or told what to do.
- Dramatise your ideas. Merely stating a truth isn’t enough; it has to be made vivid, interesting, and dramatic — using showmanship in your ideas.
This isn’t a book to skim for entertainment; it is a working handbook on human relations. Mastery requires more than reading — it requires a commitment to action.
To truly benefit, you must adopt this philosophy as a new way of life:
- Apply the principles at every opportunity. Only knowledge that is used sticks in your mind.
- Keep it on your desk and review the principles every month.
- Hone your skills daily. Whenever you are confronted with a specific problem (such as satisfying an irritated customer or winning your spouse to your way of thinking), review the principles you have studied.
- Check up on your progress. Engage in self-examination weekly, asking yourself what mistakes you made and what lessons you learned for the future.
If you follow these suggestions, your ability to meet and deal with people will grow enormously, and you will achieve wonders. The time for change is now!
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