Summary of How To Win Friends And Influence People (Dale Carnegie)
Part 1
Fundamental Techniques In Handling People
1.1 If You Want To Gather Honey, Donāt Kick Over The Beehive
Main Idea
When you get the urge to criticize someone, stop and try to figure out why they say the things they do. Criticism never achieves a positive result.
Supporting Ideas
People never criticize themselves, but always rationalize that they are forced to act the way they do by factors beyond their control. Criticism is futile because it immediately puts the other person on the defensive.
Criticism is also dangerous as it fosters resentment that can smolder for years and come back to haunt us at the worst possible moment. In the long run, the short term satisfaction is not worth the long term pain.
Many studies show that people respond more completely to positive rewards than to negative scolding. Whenever you get the urge to correct someone through criticism, start on yourself. From a purely selfish point of view, youāll gain much more.
People are creatures of logic, not reason. People are filled with passions, prejudices and contradictions. Why try to deal with a matter of emotion through the logic of reason. It just wonāt work.
Key Thoughts
āGod himself, sir, does not propose to judge man until the end of his days.ā
- Dr. Johnson
āDonāt complain about the snow on your neighborās roof when your own doorstep is unclean.ā
- Confucius
āA great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men.ā
- Carlyle
1.2 The Big Secret Of Dealing With People
Main Idea
People donāt have many wants, but what they want deep down they crave with all their hearts. Herein lies the key in dealing with other people - find out what it is they really want and show them how to get it. Do this for a person and they will move mountains for you.
Supporting Ideas
If our ancestors had not had a burning desire for a feeling of importance, civilization would have been impossible - we would be acting just like animals. If we can find out from what source a person draws their own personal feeling of importance, we have the key to their character.
Can you imagine the power that you hold in your control when you give people heart-felt appreciation and recognition. Correctly used, these people become highly motivated to help us do anything we want. Flattery is a pale shadow of honest appreciation, and people see right through it. The difference between flattery and appreciation is that flattery comes from the teeth out while appreciation comes from the heart. Flattery is telling the other person exactly what he wants to hear.
Key Thoughts
āEvery man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of him.ā
- Emerson.
If you try, you can work out the good points in every person who crosses your path. All it takes is a bit of effort and the right attitude.
āI shall pass this way but once; any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.ā
- Anonymous
āI consider my ability to arouse enthusiasm among my people the greatest asset I possess, and the way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement.ā
- Charles Schwab, one of the most successful American businessmen of the 1930ās.
Years ago, a teacher in Detroit asked Stevie Morris to help her find a mouse that was lost in the classroom. She knew Stevie had a marvelous gift of hearing to compensate for his blindness. This was the first time Stevie was shown appreciation for his gift, and it was the beginning of a new life for him. He went on to become Stevie Wonder, one of the most successful singers and songwrite...