How to win friends and influence people

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1936, Dale Carnegie wrote one of the world’s most popular self help books - How to Win Friends and Influence People.

The idea was suggested by a book editor who had attended one of Dale’s public speaking courses in New York.

The result was a mix of psychology, philosophy and good old-fashioned common sense. Dale offered advice like: Smile. Give praise. Be a good listener. And remember people’s names.

The book went on to become a best seller. Today, more than 30 million copies have been sold worldwide, and it has been translated into 36 languages. Even the title is part of popular culture.

Dale’s daughter Donna Dale Carnegie tells Jane Wilkinson about the secret of its success.

(Photo: How to Win Friends and Influence People in 1955. Credit: Frederic Hamilton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast I'd like to introduce myself.
0:03.4	My name's Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC commissioner for a load of sport
0:07.4	podcasts. I'm lucky to do that at the BBC because I get to work with
0:10.7	leading journalists, experienced pundits and the biggest
0:13.2	sports stars. Together we bring you untold stories and fascinating insights
0:17.5	straight from the player's mouths. But the best thing about doing this at the BBC is our unique access to the sporting world.
0:24.4	What that means is that we can bring you podcasts that create a real connection
0:28.7	to dedicated sports fans across the UK.
0:31.1	So if you like this podcast, head over to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more. Hello, welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me
0:45.7	Jane Wilkinson. I'm taking you back to 1936 and the publication of one of the
0:51.8	world's best-known self-help books,
0:54.4	written by a man who believed he knew the secret of success.
0:58.4	Hello everybody. You know the happiness you get out of life and to a large extent the size of your income
1:04.7	will depend very largely upon your ability to win friends and influence people
1:09.7	become genuinely and actively interested in other people and show it.
1:14.8	That's Dale Carnegie, author of How to Win Friends and Influence People.
1:21.2	But Dale hadn't always been successful. As a farmer's son
1:26.4	from the American state of Missouri, he traveled to New York to earn his fortune in the early
1:31.9	1900s. First trying acting and then selling cars
1:36.9	until finally finding his real vocation, teaching public speaking, as his daughter Donna explains.
1:44.0	It had begun as a class in how to speak in front of people.
1:50.0	And he found that when people were able to do that it gave them tremendous confidence in other areas.
	...

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