(second in a series)

DALE CARNEGIE’S SECRETS OF SUCCESS (nee The Golden Book) is a valuable resource for improving our relationships with other members of the gun carrying community. The hard copy I have is six pages long. I’ve kept it on my desk for over 20 years since I went through Dale Carnegie training. The book is available online as a free download.

https://www.dalecarnegie.com/en/resources/dale-carnegies-secrets-of-success

The first part of the book is a three page section called Principles from How to Win Friends and Influence People. It covers three topics.

• Become a Friendlier Person
• Win People to Your Way of Thinking
• Be A Leader

Each of the topics has a series of numbered bullet points that can guide our interactions with people. Here’s how we might apply those Principles in the situation of seeing someone whose way of carrying isn’t what we would ordinarily recommend.

Become a Friendlier Person

1. Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.

5. Smile.

2. Give honest, sincere appreciation.

• You’re carrying a gun – Excellent!
• Your holster has a safety strap.

6. Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.

• Introduce yourself
• Ask the other person’s first name if they don’t give it in return.

7. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.

• What kind of gun is that? (Regardless if you know what it is.)
  
• How long have you been carrying?
• Have you done any training?

Questions are powerful, much more powerful than criticism, condemnation, or complaints. By starting a friendly interaction with a person and then asking kindly questions, we have the opportunity to be guides to people who are less knowledgeable than ourselves. It puts us in the position to Win Friends to our community and influence them to Success. Our people skills are the single most powerful weapon in our arsenal.

We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.

–Benjamin Franklin