Dale Carnegie

Before Dale Carnegie wrote How to Win Friends and Influence People, he wrote this book. In fact, back in the day, one of the things Carnegie was best known for was his ability to help people develop their leadership skills by becoming great speakers. This book is a distillation of the training manuals from his classes. As with How to Win Friends and How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, this book is quick-reading, super-practical, and entertaining (especially if you get a kick out of the early 20th century style like I do). Big Ideas we explore include: The Big 4 of Optimizing your speaking, the importance of “reserve power,” the secret to good delivery, your most precious asset as a speaker, how to gesture and the importance of magnetic vitality.

Dale Carnegie wrote this book in 1937. The publisher originally only printed 5,000 copies. It was an immediate best seller and went on to sell over 30 million copies. I’ve always had a very strong allergy to the idea of “networking” and trying to “win friends” and/or “influence people” so this one never quite resonated but I loved it. It’s packed with Big Ideas on how to Optimize our relationships and, perhaps in the process, win some more friends and influence some people as better humans and leaders. We explore: The #1 indispensable quality you need for Optimizing, Principle #1 of How to Win Friends (Never criticize!!), how to make a great first impression, the Golden Rule (you living it), what to do when you make a mistake, and what to think when you meet people today!

Have you ever worried more than you'd like? (Me, too.) In this Note, we'll explore some *really* Big Ideas on how to stop worrying and start living—including the importance of rest (did you know our hearts rest way more than they work every day? (Me, either.)) and how important it is to make decisions and take action!