The Blog by Javier

“What is the main thing you learn from studying an MBA?” When I have been asked this question I always answer that the learning process is different: Most of the subjects present you with situations / cases that once solved you said to yourself “well, it was applied common sense, wasn’t it?” Yes, applied common sense to some situations you never encountered or reflected on before. This is one way you learn, the other is hearing from first hand hundreds of real stories experienced by your teachers.

It is not like learning to solve fluid dynamics or differential equations exercises… it is not that before you didn’t how to solve a problem and then you know it, at least this is how I felt at EOI. The learning process during the MBA is more like encouraging you to apply common sense to many issues, making you reflect on new topics from those that entertained you at university.

I tell this because after reading “How to win friends & influence people”, by Dale Carnegie, I felt the same.

I found that Dale Carnegie is a great story-teller and nothing is better to learn or reflect on different issues than seeing the application of solutions, skills or techniques in stories, real stories. Some of the ones in the book came from Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Roosevelt, Rockefeller, several American generals… and many others were stories from lay people like you and me.

I remember that one of my teachers in the MBA used to say “70% of your work within a company is just human relationships; and precisely that is not taught anywhere”.

The skill to deal with other humans effectively is so important that, as Dale Carnegie tells in the book, Charles Schwab was the first person to earn a million dollars a year (when 2.500$ a year was considered a good salary), when he was picked by Andrew Carnegie (no relation) to become the first president of United States Steel company in 1921… Why? As Charles put it: “I consider my ability to arouse enthusiasm among my people the greatest asset I possess, and the way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement”. (We may argue whether he indeed deserved a salary hundreds of times higher than the average… I already discussed this when I commented other book in this blog).

Now, I leave you the different principles that Carnegie offers to improve your effectiveness when dealing with people (a rare animal indeed!), reflect on them:

Fundamental techniques in handling people:

1. Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Six ways to make people like you:

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
6. Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

Win people to your way of thinking:

1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
2. Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say “You’re wrong”.
3. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
4. Begin in a friendly way.
5. Get the other person saying “yes, yes” immediately.
6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
7. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
8. Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
9. Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
10. Appeal to the nobler motives.
11. Dramatize your ideas.
12. Throw down a challenge.

Be a leader:

1. Begin with praise and hones appreciation.
2. Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5. Let the other person save face.
6. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise”.
7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
9. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

“Obvious…” This is one thought that may come to our mind when reading some of these statements. However, we’re not acting in that way every day, being as obvious as they may be – thus getting the results we get…

I encourage you to read the book (~260 pgs.) and see in those stories many examples applicable to yourself; daily situations in which to apply those principles.