This is the second 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/or inspiring NarraSoft’s 60 employees in Manila, the Philippines 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!
I just finished re-reading the second chapter of How to Win Friends and Influence People in preparation for writing this particular blog. And I am very disappointed I am not applying this principle more regularly in all areas of my life, including how I communicate with my employees. However, moving forward I would like to make this commitment to my entire staff. “I promise to do better starting today.”
“All human beings want and need to feel important, and to know what they do matters and is appreciated.” This is the key premise of Chapter Two. As I consider the various roles served by NarraSoft’s 60 employees, I do recognize how critical each and every person is to the operations, success and continued growth of our company. And while I do regularly try to provide positive feedback to individual employees, I know I have failed to express appreciation on numerous occasions. Or I have chosen to scold instead of encourage when someone has fallen short of their abilities.
In addition, nourishing the self-esteem of others is a sign of a strong leader and simply the right thing to do. When you sincerely express appreciation for peoples work, it makes them feel valued and motivates them to perform to the best of their abilities. But, there is a difference between appreciation and flattery. Appreciation is sincere while flattery is not. Sincere appreciation comes from the heart and when given, can be very powerful.
I would challenge everyone reading this post to express more appreciation to everyone they come across while living life…employees, co-workers, family, friends, even the barista who brews your coffee or the Uber driver who picks you up for a 6:00am flight. Re-reading this chapter has inspired me to improve and I hope it will inspire you as well.