Part 1 - Fundamental Techniques In Handling People.
• 3 - "He Who Can Do This Has the Whole World with Him. He Who
Cannot, Walks a Lonely Way".
I often went fishing up in Maine during the summer. Personally 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 a grasshopper in front of the fish and said: "Wouldn't you like to have that?"
Why not use the same common sense when fishing for people?
Why talk about what we want? That is childish. Absurd. Of course, you are interested in what you want. You are eternally interested in it. But no one else is. The rest of us are just like you: we are interested in what we want.
Harry A, Overstreet in his illuminating book Influencing Human
Behavior said; "Action springs out of what we fundamentally desire
... And the best piece of advice which can be given to would-be persuaders, whether in business, in the home, in the school, in politics, is: First, arouse in the other person an eager want. He who can do this has the whole world with him. He who cannot walks a lonely way."
Tomorrow you may want to persuade somebody to do something.
Before you speak, pause and ask yourself: "How can I make this person want to do it?"
That question will stop us from rushing into a situation heedlessly, with futile chatter about our desires.
Here is one of the best bits of advice ever given about the fine art of human relationships. "If there is any one secret of success," said
Henry Ford, "it lies in the ability to get the other person's point of view and see things from that person's angle as well as from your own."
William Winter once remarked that "self-expression is the dominant necessity of human nature." Why can't we adapt this same psychology to business dealings? When we have a brilliant idea, instead of making others think it is ours, why not let them cook and stir the idea themselves. They will then regard it as their own.
• Principle 3 - Arouse in the other person an eager want.
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