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Re:Ask HN: Getting back into the working world with a negati... by llambda on Wednesday October 19, 2011 @10:23AM (#3130248)
> I used "How to Win Friends and Influence People."

This is an interesting citation. I haven't personally read it but I recall an interview on NPR wherein an author (I can't remember his name now) recalled a year of elementary school during which he read this book and attempted to implement its techniques. The result? Both his peers and the teachers were left confused and unsure how to react to his methods that he had garnered from the book. Some people seemed to think he was trying to manipulate them while others were just unused to such unnatural social interaction. So that's completely anecdotal, after all who knows what a kid really would know about the advice of such a book or how he might have (wrongly or rightly) interpreted the book. Still I found it fascinating, the reactions he described. It made me wonder if you can really create a so-called "blueprint" for social interaction?

Re:Ask HN: Getting back into the working world with a negati... by garethsprice on Wednesday October 19, 2011 @11:14AM (#3130486)
It was written in a different time so the language and examples are archaic and would look odd now, but the principles are the same.

To paraphrase badly, there's examples along the lines of "So I laid my hat on the desk, asked his girl to fetch us some coffee and said '...so let's name the company after you'. He took the deal.".

Following that to the letter would likely get you kicked out (ie. wearing a fedora to a business meeting makes you look like a loon, summoning the nearest woman to fetch you coffee would likely get you a dirty look or a lawsuit) but the underlying principle of giving up credit to the other guy so everyone gets what they want is still a valuable principle.

You can't create word-for-word scripts for social interaction as context varies wildly between situations, locations and time periods - but there are underlying principles of interaction that can be modeled and learned, especially by those who are not naturally gifted with communication skills.

(Some other fascinating books on this subject: Robert Cialdini's Influence and Eric Berne's Games People Play)

Re:Ask HN: Getting back into the working world with a negati... by ColinWright on Wednesday October 19, 2011 @10:44AM (#3130350)
As haraball says in http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3130306 - it's really important that the ideas and techniques from HtWF&IP are not just used as rules to follow, but are internalized and applied faithfully and sincerely. Without that you do simply become a manipulative bastard, and people will work that out and then hate you even more than they otherwise might have done.

Sincerity works though. If you can fake that, you've got it made 8-)

Sorry, in all seriousness, yes, the sincerity is a critical component, which is why you can't just read the book and have a checklist of things to do and follow. It has to be internalized and become a natural part of the way you interact.

The results can be dramatic. They were for me.

Re:Ask HN: Getting back into the working world with a negati... by haraball on Wednesday October 19, 2011 @10:34AM (#3130306)
I've read the book, and I believe that one of the most important things with its techniques is that you have to be sincere and honest when applying them, otherwise it will seem (and be) fake for the people you are approaching.