As further proof that having ideas carries their own punishment, it's put-up-or-shut-up time for me at work. Which means extracurricular meetings and being expected to come up with more ideas. And, oddly enough, reading assignments. Among them is the classic Dale Carnegie "How to Win Friends and Influence People." Somewhere I had the notion that the book was a product of the Fifties--a notion quickly dispelled by the introduction. (Interviews with the Thomas Edison? That didn't involve a Ouija board? Wait--what?") Actually, it was first published in 1936 when America was in the throes of The Great Depression, but bore the central message that ultimately made him wealthy, even by the standards of that bleak time.
After skimming the introduction and contributed piece by Lowell Thomas, I settled in for a slice of time capsule. But the version of the book I had had been updated so many times that it was something more like a living fossil. For a History nerd like myself, the anachronistic hodge-podge is somewhat jarring (reading it in PDF format didn't help, mind you!). And I was not amused to discover that business self-help books have apparently been following the same formula for much longer than I'd imagined--the "formula" being:
- Break the message down into simple, but interrelated semantic chunks.
- "Prove" your arguments with cherry-picked anecdotes.
- Give your anecdotes credibility by quoting famous people. Preferably dead ones.
All that being said, I'm still reading it. More, in fact, than the "assignment" requires. One, that's just how I roll. Two, I'm a sucker for stories. Three, the central tenet of "Get over yourself and pay attention to what's important to others" is a healthy counterbalance to me spouting my semi-informed opinions to the inter-tubes every day. And--though I shouldn't admit this--one of the anecdotes mentioned the town where I grew up (Eau Claire, WI), thus illustrating the book's sub-premise that you'll never lose by mining a prospect's background. Sigh: Sometimes self-awareness sucks. Like now.
