Since January 2014, I have read every single one of the books our book club has chosen. Except one. The Chancellor has not read all of the books, but he read this one. And he has ribbed me about this one mercilessly. That left me with two choices. Either I could stick to my original principles—I didn’t want to read How to Win Friends and Influence People, because our selector had chosen it out of convenience, rather than actual desire (seriously, no. Book club is for fun books, not books your boss is making you read for professional development)—or I could be the Book Club Queen. And as you can tell, I made my choice.
How to Win Friends and Influence People is about basic business principles that you can use to advance and make great connections in your professional life. Published in 1936, Dale Carnegie’s book goes over several various ideologies and behavioral practices that help you develop a professional ethos and interact with clients, peers, and superiors. It helps you understand how to interact with others, and it shows you how you can make friendly connections, at the same time.
The Chancellor did not care for this book, and I understand why. This book is repetitive and didactic. It repeats its principles at the beginning and the END of each chapter, and at the end of each section. There are way too many anecdotes, and they become unnecessary. That said, there was a lot of insight as far as interacting with others and understanding how your behavior affects yourself and others. It was a good refresher in reminding me about tactics I can try to build bridges instead of burn them in my professional life. So while the circumstances of reading this book were less than ideal, it was worth the read at least once.
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