“When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity.”
Most of us deal with people every day from our immediate families to coworkers to people we encounter in stores, restaurants and on the phone. Interacting with people can be easy – sometimes; but it’s often hard, especially when you’re disagreeing or trying to get someone’s attention. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie is a how-to manual in how to both make friends and influence people to either listen to you or even come around to your point of view. The lessons in the book are applicable to marriages, parent-child relationships, work relationship and friendships.
I have read many leadership books and many of them mentioned How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie as a reference. I added it to my to-read list and put a hold on the ebook from my local library. It took several weeks for the book to become available and the waiting list after me is still long. It was published in 1936 and is still relevant to today. There is an update to it called How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age, which I read a few months ago. The original book is better.
The book is written in three parts – Fundamental Techniques of Handling People, Six Ways to Make People Like You and How to Win People to Your Way of Thinking. Each part has a few lessons with very relatable stories and ways to implement the lessons in daily life. One of the main lessons it to learn not to argue and criticize people. It only leads to two people arguing. Listening well and finding out what the other person is interested in was another important lesson in the book. People often want to know you hear them and want to share what they’re interested in. Then they are more open to listening to what you want from them.
I would highly recommend this book to high school age readers and older. It really should be required reading before college graduation. I am very surprised that I hadn’t read this book years ago, but am very glad I finally have it on my read list.
What is your favorite leadership book? Share on the blog!