How to win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
Book - How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.
Background -
Life contains a bunch of challenges, very few of them do we take on by ourselves. Our family, friends and teams are vital to our success in almost all challenges we face and as such, ensuring you can be a positive influence within your circle is extremely important.
By having good interpersonal skills, a positive attitude and a bias for finding solutions over wallowing in potential obstacles is a must.
The book -
I believe this book to be a force multiplier for any endeavour that you take. Whether it be business, relationships or interpersonal endeavours. This book contains countless advice that can single handedly change the outcome of your journey.
While there are a number of, I would argue, tactical level implementations to benefit your life, the books overarching principles are wedded to being a positive thoughtful individual to create more opportunities for success. Influence books always seem to throw altruistic people off because no one wants to actively convince or persuade another individual through the use of car salesman tricks and gimmicks.
However, this book is not a collection of 'power plays', it's a timeless reminder that to get the most out of people and yourself, you should think about others before you think about yourself and this will only lead to the favour being returned.
The result - I've always said that altruism is the characteristic I want to most emulate. The less time I spend thinking about myself the more capacity for change and happiness I can bring someone else. By making this my guiding principle I have found that I am never far from supportive friends, happy co-workers and a meaningful existence.
This book is a way to remind myself of what's important and how to act respectfully and of course, put others first
