Start liking people

Start liking people: Here is a basic rule for winning success. Let’s mark it in the mind and remember it. The rule is: Success depends on the support of other people. The only hurdle between you and what you want to be is the support of others. Look at it this way: An executive depends  on people to carry out  his instructions. If they don’t, the company boss will fire the executive, not the employees. A sales man depends on people to buy his products. If they don’t, the salesman fails. Likewise, a college dean depends on professors to  carry forward his educational programmes. A politician depends on voters to elect him; a writer depends on people to read what he writes. A chain store magnate has got to be a chain store magnate because employees accepted his leadership and the consumers accepted his merchandising programme. There are times in history when a person could gain a position of authority through force and hold it with force and/or threats of force. In those days, a man either cooperated with the leader or risked literally losing his head. But today, remember, a person either supports you willingly or he does not support you at all. But one has to think right towards people; and they will like you and support you. Successful people follow a plan for liking people. People who reach the top don’t discuss their techniques for thinking right toward people. Consider the case of President Lyndon Johnson. Long before he became President, Johnson, in the process of developing his power of personal persuasion, developed his own 10-point formula for success. His rules, which even a casual observer of the President could see, were practised in everything he did.  These rules were: remember names, take it easy, know how to relax, don’t be egotistical, be interesting, drain off your grievances, learn to appreciate, learn to give spiritual strength to others and learn to like people. (Edited extracts from the book The Magic of Thinking Big)