Something to make virtue signallers actually useful
Many years ago (2010-ish) I read that infamous Dale Carnegie book:
"How To Win Friends And Influence People"
My grandad gave it me when I went to work for him.
At the time, as a 20-year old dork, I thought business was all about taking money and popping it in your pocket.
I reckon my grandad gave me this book to slap that silly idea out of my head as quickly as damn well possible. And it worked. Although, I always felt there was something off about the title of the book. Winning friends and influencing people sounds a bit shady doesn't it?
Which is probably why most won't read it today.
But hidden in the pages of that almost 100 year old book are some lessons todays nihilistic, virtue signalling, woke warriors could learn that'd make not only their lives better, but certainly the lives of those they claim to be fighting for. Much more useful than parading the street waving flags.
Here are just a few nuggets that completely altered my approach to business and helped me build a successful agency at 22:
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1/ “Talk to someone about themselves and they’ll listen for hours.”
Some people do this naturally. They have a massive advantage over recovering introverts like me who don't want to bother others with pointless questions. But, of course, they're not pointless if you're genuinely interested in the other person. This one line alone helped me bring in £100,000s of sales for the agency – and probably helped me join Fellow Pay as a co-owner.
2/ “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion.”
This is true for EVERYONE. Literally. Even if you think you're using logic to make a decision, you're really being influenced by what Tim Keller called 'Background Beliefs'.
3/ “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”
Read that again. Done?
In the 15th century, the Ottomans marched on Europe with the intention of converting Christians to Islam. Of course, it failed. Today, the word police tell us what we can and cannot say, what we can and cannot believe. We might tell them we've submitted to their whims (I never do) but really, behind the scenes, our beliefs remain the same.
How does this help in business? Because a buyer wants to buy, not be sold.
I'll leave you to work out why that's so important.