How to Win Friends and Influence People - Book Review

I'm all about self-improvement these days. It began when I looked around at my life and thought, there must be a reason why I haven't rocketed to fame by now. What am I missing? Although I am a very good listener, a very positive individual, and a great hugger, it seems those things don't always excel you in the business world. I needed some ammo. And so I was more interested in the "Influence People" part of the title of this book.
In Dale Carnegie's book How to Win Friends and Influence People, he writes, "Let the other person do a great deal of the talking." This, he explains, is how to get somebody to give you something you need or want from them. The longer they talk the more likely they are to give you what you want without you having to ask for it. Let me tell you, putting this one into practise was not as easy as it sounds. Here I thought I was a good listener. It turns out that maybe I'm not, since I have to literally purse my lips together to avoid cutting somebody off in mid-sentence! I didn't realize I was such an interrupter. Dale's book was first published in 1936, which explains the old-fashioned language used throughout, "a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall" and the many, many, many references to Abraham Lincoln - all poignant and useful, by the way. A sense of old time values and plain good manners comes across as you read such honest, intelligent, and wise advice from Dale. And in a society of URLs, Blogs, online shopping, and illegal movie downloads, I think we can all certainly use some old time values. It's time to reconnect with each other and I think those that are able to accomplish that, will certainly be able to win friends and influence people.

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