Making People Glad To Do What You Want
Back in 1915, America was aghast. For more than a year, the nations of Europe had been slaughtering one another on a scale never before dreamed of in all the bloody annals of mankind. Could peace be brought about? No one knew. But Woodrow Wilson was determined to try. He would send a personal representative, […]
Make The Fault Seem Easy To Correct
A short time ago, a bachelor friend of mine, about forty years old, became engaged, and his fiancée persuaded him to take some belated dancing lessons. “The Lord knows I needed dancing lessons,” he confessed as he told me the story, “for I danced just as I did when I first started twenty years ago. […]
Give A Dog A Good Name
A friend of mine, Mrs. Ernest Gent, 175 Brewster Road, Scarsdale, New York, hired a servant girl, telling her to report for work the following Monday. In the meantime, Mrs. Gent telephoned a woman who had formerly employed this girl. All was not well. When the girl came to start work, Mrs. Gent said: “Nellie, […]
How to Spur Men on to Success
I used to know Pete Barlow. Pete had a dog-and-pony act and he spent his life travelling with circuses and vaudeville shows. I loved to watch Pete train new dogs for his act. I noticed that the moment a dog showed the slightest improvement, Pete patted and praised him and gave him meat and made […]
Let the Other Man Save His Face
Years ago the General Electric Company was faced with the delicate task of removing Charles Steinmetz from the head of a department. Steinmetz, a genius of the first magnitude when it came to electricity, was a wash-out as the head of the calculating department. Yet the company didn’t dare offend the man. He was indispensable—and […]
No One Likes To Take Orders
I recently had the pleasure of dining with Miss Ida Tarbell, the dean of American biographers. When I told her I was writing this book we began discussing this all-important subject of getting along with people, and she told me that while she was writing her biography of Owen D. Young she interviewed a man […]
Talk About Your Own Mistakes First
A few years ago, my niece, Josephine Carnegie, left her home in Kansas City and came to New York to act as my secretary. She was nineteen, had graduated from high school three years previously, and her business experience was a trifle more than zero. Today she is one of the most perfect secretaries west […]
How to Criticize – and Not Be Hated for It
Charles Schwab was passing through one of his steel mills one day at noon when he came across some of his employees smoking. Immediately above their heads was a sign which said “No smoking.” Did Schwab point to the sign and say: “Can’t you read?” Oh, no, not Schwab. He walked over to the men, […]
If You Must Find Fault, This Is the Way to Begin
A friend of mine was a guest at the White House for a week-end during the administration of Calvin Coolidge. Drifting into the President’s private office, he heard Coolidge say to one of his secretaries: “That’s a pretty dress you are wearing this morning, and you are a very attractive young woman.” That was probably […]
In a Nutshell
TWELVE WAYS OF WINNING PEOPLE TO YOUR WAY OF THINKING Rule 1: The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it. Rule 2: Show respect for the other man’s opinions. Never tell a man he is wrong. Rule 3: If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically. Rule 4: […]