"The Big Secret of Dealing with People" (Part 1, Chapter 2)
1. The only way to get people to do something is to make them wanting to do it.
- You can threatened or harass people to get them to do something but it will come back to haunt you.
- A boss who threatens to fire his employees if they do not oblige, faces lower productivity and higher turnover.
2. The only way to get people to do something is by giving them what they want.
- The desire to be important is the greatest motivation for people.
- People "want" other things such as food, sex, health, preservation of life, sleep, money, healthy offspring. However, nothing is as forceful as the wish to be important; it is the key to success and many great figures in history would not have been great had they not had the desire to be important.
3. If our desire for being important is not met, we go insane.
- Because the desire to be important is such a significant motivator, we are invested in the ventures we deem necessary to achieve importance. If we find out that our struggles and investments were in vain, we suffer to the point of insanity.
- Consequently, appreciation and encouragement from a boss are more important than criticism and rejection because they are essential to maintaining a motivated work force.
Ergo: Principle 2 - Give honest and sincere appreciation.
One of the most challenging aspects of leadership is to motivate followers to meet the challenges the company faces. Unmotivated employees harm productivity and lead to high turnovers. Carnegie emphasizes that the only way to get people to do something is to make them want to do it. Threats might generate the same results, however, this approach is counter-productive in the long run and will only lead to frustration and anger, which eventually harms business.
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