Winning Friends and Influencing People with Stories by Donna Dale Carnegie & Andrew Postman
This end-of-year, special episode of Take Command features an interview with Dale Carnegie’s daughter, Donna Dale Carnegie, who is the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Dale Carnegie and Associates. Together with Simon and Schuster author Andrew Postman, they added, edited, and updated the bestseller, How to Win Friends and Influence People, with more contemporary stories and language.
“The number one reason How to Win Friends & Influence People is a bestselling book is because Dale Carnegie is such a great storyteller. And when Donna Dale Carnegie talks about story stacking, our goal was to make sure we follow Dale Carnegie’s incredible pacing and his understanding of detail, and bring his principles to life. And you hear the word “storytelling” & the power of story thrown around us so much in advertising, marketing, and PR and I don’t think anyone has yet done it better in my opinion than Dale Carnegie.” – Andrew Postman
Andrew Postman, a professional author and a fan of How to Win Friends and Influence People and Dale’s teachings, worked alongside Donna Dale Carnegie, going page by page through the first edition of the book, reading, discussing, debating, and revising. Donna’s goal in refreshing the book was to write and update it as close to her father’s voice and writing style as possible. Andrew and Donna carefully reviewed and discussed each story to understand how certain references would work for a modern audience and to discern which stories stood the test of time.
One of the obvious areas of concern involved the lack of representation of women in positions of power or decision-making, women “who weren’t mothers, wives, secretaries or domestics as they were referred to in 1936.” The reality is that in the 1930s, there were “free women”—as they were called—in prominent leadership positions in business. There were also other older phrases that Postman and Carnegie had to decide whether to include.
Join us to learn about the power of storytelling, communication, and seeing things from the other person’s point of view.
