Lessons & Review: How To Win Friends and Influence People

4) Be a good listener- listening involves as much physical effort as mental. Your body language reflections your attention level, i.e putting away the cell phone when talking to someone, leaning towards the person, looking into someone’s eyes. Encourage the other person to talk about himself or herself, because people always have a lot to talk about when they are talking about themselves.

5) Engage someone else’s interests.  This lesson could apply when you are trying to convince others to do work. To engage someone in conversation, it’s best to talk about their interests rather than your own. This could require research if you know ahead of time the audience you are going to be with.

6) Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely-  everyone wants a feeling that they are important in their little world. Being vocal with your compliments could do this or really recognizing a person’s strengths can make them feel like they matter.

After being engaged and sincerely interested in the other person, the author provides insight on 12 ways to help win people over.

1) The best way to win an argument is to avoid having an argument. Even if you feel as though you can win an argument, just imagine how the other person feels when they feel wrong.  The best way is trying to convince a person of your viewpoint in a more relaxed setting.

2) Show respect for the other person’s opinion- this might be a tough pill to swallow, but people are more willing to listen once you are able to display a grasp and appreciate their viewpoint. This could simply be starting a conversation, “ I see how your viewpoint can be right in these ways….”