How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age is a updated version of it's original title How to Win Friends and Influence People that came out in 1936 by Dale Carnegie. I usually like to read this book every few years. The first take away when applying this to business is to remember people's names. Use their name in your conversation and ask them to spell it if it's unusual. People love to hear their own names, and simply if you forget their name you put yourself at a huge disadvantage. There is an emotion that is associated with your name and the name of your business. A client having a positive experience with your business will continue to have a positive emotion with your name and company. That will help as they tell others about working with you on their project. Next this book gives us a good reminder to: Listen. Be present and listen longer. Ask 15 question a day. 5 to a family member, 5 to a co-worker, 5 to your social media friends. Do not ask basic questions, but dig deeper and ask questions that are meaningful and honest. I think we could all learn to listen a little better and enrich our relationships further by really knowing and understanding those around us. People will trust in you and feel good knowing they are heard. Another lesson is to say "I'm sorry." We all make mistakes. It's how we react and learn from those mistakes that shapes who we are. I even say I'm sorry to my kids if there is something I truly did not do, or made an error on. I want them to know that grownups make mistakes too and we need to admit when we do something wrong. I want them to see that life is not perfect and we are not perfect. Another important message is "like attracts like." John C Maxwell called this the law of magnetism and said "Effective leaders are always on the lookout for good people." I think of this as: good people know good people. We attract those who share our core values and beliefs. A positive attitude attracts those with positive energy just as those with a negative attitude attracts those with a negative energy. This book has many more lessons that help us to connect with people better and have more meaningful relationships. It has a lot of examples and stories to support their lessons. I overall recommend and like this book. It is helpful to refer back to this book every couple years to reread and it has good tips for helping in business interactions to form lasting relationships. Mostly it shows us that how to win friends and influence people in the digital age goes back to the basic concept of developing and keeping a connection with those around us. To be a leader in our company we need to attract and connect to those who share our vision and goals. That is what will make us special. "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel" -Maya Angelou
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