Dear Entrepreneur, Here Are 15 Things That Will Make You Win Friends And Influence People

In 1936, Dale Carnegie published what has become one of the most influential self-help books of all time, ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People.

When dealing with people, we should always remember that we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity.

The core idea is that you can change other people’s behavior simply by changing your own. It teaches you the principles to better understand people, become a more likable person, improve relationships, win others over, and influence behavior through leadership.

1. Remember Their Name

Remembering people’s names when you meet them is difficult. You casually meet a lot of people so it’s challenging, but if you can train yourself to remember people’s names, it makes them feel special and important.

2. Do not Criticize, Condemn or Complain

It is no secret that people are ruled by emotion more than by reason. Thus, if we want to change someone’s opinion, criticizing them is an awfully bad approach. By criticizing someone we make them feel under attack and cause them to put up walls and become defensive toward us

3. Be Genuinely Interested In Other People

Remembering a person’s name, asking them questions that encourage them to talk about themselves, so you discover their interests and passions are what make people believe you like them, so they in turn like you

4. Be Quick To Acknowledge Your Own Mistakes

Nothing will make people less defensive and more agreeable than you are being humble and reasonable enough to admit your own mistakes. Having strong and stable personal and professional relationships relies on you taking responsibility for your actions, especially your mistakes

5. Show Appreciation

One of the strongest needs we as humans have is the need to feel appreciated. It could be said that the greatest achievements mankind has ever made were all to seek praise and approval; in other words, to be appreciated. If you want people to like you and to do favors for you, they must know you will sincerely praise them afterward.

6. Talk About What Matters To The Other Person

If you allow others to actively talk about what excites them, they will be grateful for the opportunity to speak about it. Of course, as stated above, for everyone, that interest is inherently themselves.

7. Immediately Admit When You Are Wrong

If you are wrong, your opponent will want to attack you for it. If you immediately admit your mistake before they, you can steal this thunder. If you are wrong, it is much easier to be the one who admonishes yourself than to let someone else do it, it will even make you look admirable in their eyes.

8. Be Generous With Praise

People often live within their limits. To push their limits and to push their success, inspire people with praise to help them reach their full potential. Praise every improvement, no matter how small.

9. Know The Value Of Charm

One thing people do not discuss much in the job search industry is that so much of getting an opportunity is not about talent, where you went to college, or who you know, it is people liking you

10. Do not Attempt To “Win” An Argument

The best way to win any argument, Carnegie writes, is to avoid it. Even if you completely dismantle someone’s argument with objective facts, you will not be any closer to reaching an agreement than if you made personal arguments.

11. Make People Feel Important

Smiling, knowing people’s names, praising people, trying to know their interests, and chat about them make people feel important. That is the underlying point of all the above principles. . If you make people feel important, how you walk through the world will be an exponentially more pleasant and incredible experience.

12. Never Tell The Other Person They Are Wrong

By telling someone they are wrong you are telling them that you are smarter than them. This attack will cause them to put up a wall, or worse a fight, and again create an enemy. Instead, if faced with a situation where the other person is wrong it is much better to admit that you yourself may be the one who is in the wrong

13. Have Others Believe Your Conclusion Is Their Own

People cannot be forced to believe anything, and persuasive people understand the power of suggestion over demand. Learn to plant the seed, and instead of telling people they are wrong, find the common ground and persuade them that what they really want is your desired outcome

14. Get Others to Say ‘Yes’

By telling the other person that you are on the same side, and that you have the same goals, makes them much more likely to go along with you. This is one of the reasons there is so much power in ‘Yes’

15. Smile

When you smile at someone you are communicating to them that you like them and are happy to see them. This in turn makes the other person instantly like you as well. As an added side note, it is relevant to mention that studies have also shown that the mere act of smiling can boost our brain chemistry and make us happier as well.

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