HR Magazine



HR Magazine

Book review

“How to Win Friends and Influence People” is one of the best selling self-help which has been ever published. This book was written by Dale Carnegie and was first published in 1936. At that time 15 million copies were sold world-wide.

The present era of real time communication and social media has been considered important to communicate and learn effectively. Communication with friends either through any channel demands a proper way. Dale Carnegie book which is 30 chapters based eye opener discusses how one win people through own point of view and effectively lead others. Each section of the book is the main pillar which shifts mindset and actions and can even help those who are socially incompetent to become leaders.

Many books have been written in this reference, but this book is different from all of them. The first chapter of the book reflects how I have reacted in many previous situations. We face different situations in life where we react differently by showing different behaviours. Some chapters make us feel good and help us in understanding where we stand while other chapters describe the tremendous improvement in this regard.

This book cannot be read casually but it is considered as a personal improvement curriculum. The introduction of the book suggests as it entitles, Nine Suggestions on How to Get the Most Out of This Book. Carnegie in his book also states that when dealing with people one should remember that they are dealing with emotions, creatures with prejudices including pride.

Figure 1: How to Win Friends

Carnegie also discusses that the world does not contain rainbows and sunshine as people make mistakes and coaching helps people to grow and improve themselves. People have egos and those who are able to appreciate constructive criticism find it difficult about others fault. Mr Carnegie suggests the way to handle this is to make faults seem easy to correct. The smaller the issue it can be corrected and those who do not get discouraged and they will focus on changing in themselves. This can also be used to encourage people for learning new things and understanding them. As Carnegie states when convinced to learn bridge with the statement:

"Why, Dale, it is no trick at all," Lowell replied. "There is nothing to bridge except memory and judgment. You've written articles on memory. Bridge will be a cinch for you. It's right up your alley" (Dale, 2007)

By relating the challenge of learning bridge with memory which he understands and bringing touch of encouragement and flattery one can imagine Carnegie feels motivated to learn bridge. The most special concept of this book is based on the fact that it doesn't only discuss principles related to human relations but it also provides examples of how these principles are applied practically and how do they affect us in real life. One of the most prominent aspects regarding expressing appreciation to friends and colleagues is discussed at the beginning of the ...