Dale Carnegie offers 12 principles on how to win people to your way of thinking. I’ve always found these valuable in my personal and business relationships:
- The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
- Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say “you’re wrong.”
- If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
- Begin in a friendly way.
- Get the other person saying “yes, yes” immediately.
- Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
- Let the other person feel the idea is his or hers.
- Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
- Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
- Appeal to the nobler motives.
- Dramatize your ideas.
- Throw down a challenge.
What ways are you trying to win people to your way of thinking?
