Words you could live by

I chanced upon some wise words by Dale Carnegie as I was reading The Economist and it serves as a timely reminder to myself,

“Make the other person feel important” – People like to feel important. People like to be around people who make them feel important. People also love themselves more than anything else in the world. Make a someone feel like the most important man in the room, listen to him, nod when he speaks, give him your fullest attention and you will gain his favour. He will enjoy being around you because nobody wants to be around someone who’s half hearted about talking to them. And while this is off point, this reminds me of a networking mantra to always think about what “you can do for others, and not what they can do for you”. 

“We are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion” – This quote is golden. When dealing with people we should always try to appeal to their emotions and not their logic. Make the person like you, make the person feel that they are indebted to you (it has been shown that doing someone a favour or even the small task of giving someone a coke for free greatly increases the chances of them saying yes to you – Cialdini, The Psychology Influence of persuasion). And by the way, that is a great book that everyone should read. 

 

This might all seem like a power play, but unfortunately, that’s the way the world works. We need others, and others need us. One capable man can do well, but one capable man with the help of another can do even better. 

Perhaps another favourite and powerful thought is to always be “motivated by the fear of being average”