A few people here at the Western Producer recently completed a program based on the principles of Dale Carnegie, developer of the well-known courses in self-improvement and author of the book How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Carnegie was a Missouri farm boy who became the quintessential self-made man. The elements of his courses and the above noted book are summarized in Dale Carnegie’s Golden Book, a tiny volume with 60 guiding statements. Twelve of them come under the heading “Win People to Your Way of Thinking.”
Read Also
Agriculture needs to prepare for government spending cuts
As government makes necessary cuts to spending, what can be reduced or restructured in the budgets for agriculture?
Could these principles be useful to those embroiled in the controversy over the Canadian Wheat Board? Such a polarized argument seems tailor-made for some guidance in winning others to another way of thinking.
1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it. (Well, that ship has sailed.)
2. Show respect for the other person’s opinion. Never say “you’re wrong.” (As above, bon voyage.)
3. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically. (But the question is, which side is wrong, and can they admit it?)
4. Begin in a friendly way. (Pay dirt. The controversy did begin in a civil, if not exactly friendly way. Score one.)
5. Get the other person saying “yes, yes” immediately. (Yes, we should eliminate the CWB’s monopoly, or yes, we should keep the CWB as it is? Like the proposed questions for a plebiscite, put forward last week, so much depends on the wording.)
6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking. (Another success for the Carnegie principles. Both sides have been vocal in the denunciation of the other.)
7. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers. (We see a problem here…)
8. Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view. (In fact, there are many who can see the other perspective. There’s probably a vast middle ground in the controversy for whom this is true. So that’s another plus in the Carnegie column.)
9. Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires. (Again, farmers understand the general desire to farm more profitably. They just don’t agree on how that can best be accomplished. So that’s a wash for this Carnegie item.)
10. Appeal to the nobler motives. (Here’s one that hasn’t been tried!)
11. Dramatize your ideas. (But this one has been tried. Border crossings. Vituperative News release
newss. Closed-door meetings. Exchanges in the House of Commons. The controversy gains drama daily.)
12. Throw down a challenge. (Can we challenge the main players in this argument to do better on the Carnegie principles than four out of 12?)
