I’ve been on a non-fiction reading kick lately, buying a lot of books that I heard were interesting or looked fun on bookstore shelves. It has been a good mix of serious and mature material (The Art of War and The Wealth of Nations for starters…) and, well, more entertaining stuff (consider books like The Alphabet of Manliness).
I had a ton of fun reading Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends & Influence People, though, since it made a ton of sense to me and I can relate to many of his points just via common sense. It’s nothing earth-shattering, to be sure, but it’s nice to be reminded, once in a while, how small changes in behavior and attitude can make a difference. As such, his advice basically boils down to “be nice, lay the praise on thick, avoid criticism, be sincere in your dealings”.
Of course, after going through The Dictionary of Corporate Bullshit, I have a certain cynicism for some of Carnegie’s supposedly timeless words of wisdom, especially on how it applies to the workplace. It certainly seems like a lot of business interactions follow his advice – brainstorming sessions that “don’t judge”, employee motivation via praises and pretty pens, business civility and use of euphemisms for everything good or bad, etc. As a matter of fact, the only thing the business world hasn’t mastered is the ability to be truly sincere on the above points.