Winning Friends

I'm listening to the audio book of Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. This is an old book, written in 1937, but the advice is still good. In the book he talks about the six ways to get people to like you;

1. Become interested in other people - Don't focus on yourself, take the time to get to know other people.
2. Smile (sincerely) - that's pretty simple.
   
3. Remember people's names and use them. I always feel special when I'm on the airplane and the flight attendant uses my name when asking what I want to drink.
   
4. Listen - Remember that we have 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason.
5. Talk in terms of other people's interests - If you're wanting something from someone else, first think about how you can help them. It could be as simple as asking about their children, dog, or prized geraniums.
   
6. Make other people feel important - The key here, and a point emphasized throughout the book is that you need to be sincere in everything you do. If you are just using these ideas as tricks to get what you want, people will see through you.

In this day of high speed, globally networked, virtually connected relationships there are some basic ideas that are still important. Keeping these ideas in mind and taking the time to practice them will result in developing real relationships with people and not just a network.