Love is .....????

Friday was a bit of a milestone for a group of new candidates to become Dale Carnegie Trainers. It was the first event where they were directly exposed to the demands placed upon those that we grant the right to support people who wish to change their lives in our programmes and seminars.

There are 10 core competences in which they must excel and, when running through these, the PowerPoint slide is designed in such a way that the 10th, and more important, competency is at the centre of a circle; at the heart of all the others. This 10th competency is human relations.
For those of you that have read How to Win Friends and Influence People it will apparent that the degree of shift in behaviour needed to be consistent in the application of the thirty principles, is significant for most of us. The overriding message of all these principles is to treat other people as you would wish to be treated yourself. Any debate or discussion following this topic to its natural end is; that to become such a person requires total selflessness. We have to be totally committed to the growth and development of another.

If another's' behaviour is going to shift permanently then their soul must shift too. Without this shift of the soul, being or spirit, the behaviour shift becomes contrived by each human interaction; by thinking and acting on 'Ah, which principle will I use on him or her'.
With all the reading I do on this subject and especially when reflecting on what Dale Carnegie himself says about who we should be for others, then love is appropriately defined as 'being committed to the spiritual development of another'.

Thus to be a superb Dale Carnegie Trainer one must love, not in a romantic sense of course as that is ultimately self serving, through being totally selfless and focussed on others.
Now isn't that how you would like to be treated?

David Pickering

The Proverbial Green Shoots of Recovery!

Are they here??

I’ve found that in the past nine months barely one business conversation has escaped that proverbial question..... “So how is the credit crunch / recession / downturn in the market affecting your business.”

With the business we’re in of helping companies to grow and overcome challenges I feel it’s a well placed question as it influences much of the decision making process and has often been the reason that potential clients have sought us out. The added pressures of this difficult market often highlight deficiencies in the abilities of the team; therefore the question frames the conversation well.

I’m pleased to say that there have been many companies who have gone unaffected and a fortunate few who’ve thrived. I’ve referred many times this year to some facts that I picked up at a seminar in early February. There are more millionaires made in a recession than in times of economic growth! If you’re looking for a concrete example Bill Gates started Microsoft in the middle of a recession..... and he’s gone on to do quite well ; - )

So am I about to bring more doom and gloom to the city of London and speak more of recession?

I’m pleased to say NO!

In the past two weeks I’ve sensed a delightfully uncharacteristic air of optimism in many of the meetings I’ve been in. From my own experiences there seems to be a growing belief that things are turning. When so much of business success is based on perception of the situation this is good news indeed!

One could end this post with any number of cheesy catch phrases .... I’ll try to avoid that and instead encourage you to go ahead and make that decision that you’ve been putting off while you wait to see what happens to the market. If enough people believe it and start acting in a positive way all our businesses are sure to benefit!

David Anderson
Managing Director
Dale Carnegie London

www.London.dalecarnegie.co.uk