The Democratic Ideal of the Self-Help Genre
With this book, author Dale Carnegie effectively single-handedly invented the self-help genre. Though it would be going too far to suggest that Carnegie’s book was the very first volume of self-help, its unprecedented sales encouraged him to follow up with a succession of similar books. Though inspired by the famous and occasionally legendary, the advice doled out here is specifically directed to masses with implicit and explicit message being one that could only have been achieved with the ideological shift to democracy. Carnegie is essentially saying that anyone can use his techniques of persuasion and influence to attain success; a message that would have been unpublishable less than a century before.
The Bible of Business Management
Carnegie’s foundation for “influencing people” is psychological management of others. While his advice is directed toward what the person who wants to influence others should do themselves, the targeted goal is at all times outward-directed. Specific recurring tips like smiling, admonishing against criticism, mastering a memory for names and using honey to catch flies are all just tool in a big shiny box one should carry with them at all times for the purpose of fixing the flaws of others. It is not mere accident that Carnegie’s book can almost always be found in two different sections of any large bookseller: Self-Help and Business. The tome has long been considered fundamental reading for those pursuing careers in business management.
Of Honey, Vinegar and Gall
Distilled to its essentials, Carnegie’s primary thematic foundation for effective people management (influencing them) has long been expressed in one of the most well-known proverbial maxims yet coined: “catch more flies with honey than vinegar (or, in the words of Lincoln, “gall”). In other words, if you really want to have the power to influence people, you must make them think your influence is worth the taking. With that in mind, Carnegie’s tips are laced with advice on making yourself worth listening to: by showing that you are interest in them, that your smile sends a signal that everything’s going good for you, that you care so much about them that you actually remembered their name, that you are willing to listen to their own ravings and whining and complaints, that you recognize all virtues (even when they aren’t really there) and respect their divergent opinion (even when it’s clear they are dumb as a sack of hammers).
