This is the fourth post of a thirty-blog series devoted to examining Dale Carnegie’s 30 principles of How to Win Friends and Influence People. I will be writing these blogettes with the intention of educating and inspiring NarraSoft’s 60 employees in Manila with specific focus on our customers in the software development, mobile development and 3D/2D art outsourcing industries. I hope they will also be useful to other companies and individuals. Thank you very much for reading and please reach out with any comments, questions or ideas you may have. My email is phil@narrasoft.com. And thanks again!
Sincerity is an important interpersonal skill. In terms of strong leadership, I rank it as critical. Especially in today’s environment when trust in public figures has been eroded to unseen levels. Whether these authority figures are political, religious or corporate; trust appears to be very low in 2017.
Dale Carnegie famously said, “You can make more friends in two months by being genuinely interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get them interested in you.” Applying this concept to our clients in easy! Simply listen intently to what they say; not just the words leaving their lips, but the intention of what they are trying to communicate (ie listen AND hear). And ask questions…lot’s of questions. It is the easiest and most direct way to learn about another human being. You will find as you ask questions and learn about our customers, they will respond very positivley. This is because everyone wants to know they matter. It is a very basic human need to know what you do and who you are makes a difference in our world.
And when you meet somone for the first time, you will find most people are more interesting than you might initially think. On long trips to Europe and Asia, I have sat next to a blind Olympiad gold medalist swimmer, the third most famous jazz tap dancer in the entire world and a young member of a special forces unit who spent an entire weekend in a box as part of his training! And the only way I learned who these peope were was by asking them questions about themselves.
And when you engage our clients in meaningful dialogue you will learn how to provide them what they require to be successful and you will become a more important part of what they do. You will also find how interesting our clinets are and I promise this will enrich your personal satisfaction at work!