The other day, while rummaging through a desk drawer looking for a particular file folder, I found something that I thought had been lost forever. It is a small booklet, only 46 pages in length and small enough to fit into my back pocket. It had been inscribed to me with a hand-written note from a former mentor.
Over the years, the pages had become yellowed and dog-eared, but still showed margin comments that I had written more than 25 years ago. I must have read this book several hundred times. The book is “Speak More Effectively” by Dale Carnegie. While the author died less than two months after I was born, his work still applies to any era. It contains simple, yet relevant ideas that not only pertain to public speaking but, more importantly, to written communication, self-actualization, motivation and improvement.
Here are few ideas that have served me well in my management and presentation experience:
1. Consider yourself honored to address an audience, and show it. Whether a formal presentation to a ballroom full of people, a webinar, or even a weekly staff meeting, the fact that you have been called on to speak or lead a conversation is a privilege. Not everyone will have the experience of presenting to a large audience, but all managers can put this into action as a leader within their organization. Consider yourself honored to work with good people every day — people who show up to do a good job and to add value to your workplace. Express your appreciation, both verbally and in action by showing up on time and coming prepared.
2. Have a good time making your talks. If you don’t enjoy speaking — or writing, managing, leading, fill in your business activity — how can you ever hope that anyone will enjoy listening to you? Excitement and passion are contagious.
3. Talk in terms of your listeners’ interests. All listeners are intensely interested in themselves and how to solve their problems. Show them how to be happier, how to achieve success, how to solve a problem and people will listen. Carnegie said: “You can make more friends in two months by becoming more interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you.”
4. Appeal to the nobler emotions of your audience. Right now our world seems to be in bad shape — the daily news can be pretty depressing. That said, people still respond to great human emotions like courage, love, kindness and unselfish sacrifice. We can inspire others by stirring these emotions.
5. Welcome criticism instead of resenting it. This speaks for itself. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Humility is a necessary virtue.
6. Be what Quintilian called “a good man skilled in speaking.” Quintilian was a 1st-century Roman orator whose phrase, “a good man skilled in speaking,” simply means that we need to be sincere before we can influence others. All the eloquence in the world will not make up for a lack of sincerity and integrity. “What we are speaks more loudly that than what we say,” Carnegie wrote.
As I reread this book after years of it being misplaced, I found that even today I learned something new that I could improve. Personally, I will be working on the practice of saying “we” — not “you” — and hope that my efforts to become a more effective communicator will in turn help me to better motivate and mentor those around me.
Ric McCullough is Vice President of Sales and Customer Service for PSA Security Network. To request more info about PSA, please visit www.securityinfowatch.com/10214742.
