Powerful Question #7
Dale Carnegie‘s 4th principle for becoming a friendlier person is, “become genuinely interested in other people.” Carnegie explained it like this: “I am very fond of strawberries and cream, but I have found that for some strange reason, fish prefer worms. So when I went fishing, I didn’t think about what I wanted. I thought about what they wanted. I didn’t bait the hook with strawberries and cream. Rather, I dangled a worm or grasshopper in front of the fish.”
Take a moment to think of someone important to you (e.g. boss, spouse, customer, etc.).
What is one thing he or she wants that may not be particularly important to you?
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Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader. Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website or follow him on Twitter.
39 thoughts on “Powerful Question #7”
Here’s one for me: my Toastmasters (public speaking) club. My fellow Toastmasters put a huge emphasis on grammar. I prefer to focus on the content of the speech over the little details. But I know that if I ignore the little things, my audience will get distracted from the ideas so I try my best to vocally cross my Ts and dot my Is.
I care a lot about the technical details – but my boss doesn’t need to know how to build a watch, he only cares what time it is. I have to leave some of the stuff I like behind and focus on delivering the info he needs.
Same for me, Tom! At least with program/project details. If I spent a lot of effort/analysis putting it together, I want to share them! I’ve had to be content just talking about the high level at times.
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