Dale and Design

As part of my professional development, my boss has enrolled me in a Dale Carnegie Course, Effective Communication and Human Relations (affectionately known by me as 'the Amway course').

I was somewhat skeptical of this Carnegie stuff and probably still am (can you tell?).

Words like 'influence', 'leadership', 'sincerity' don't enter my ears easily when I hear them used as means to achieve certain ends.

Nevertheless, Carnegie was onto something: we can be deliberate about who we are in relationships. We can make conscious choices to be deeply interested in people, to listen actively, to express genuine appreciation - or not. These things can profoundly affect the trajectory of our relationships, whether personal or commercial or both.

We don't have to exist in relationships as hapless bystanders waiting for serendipitous moments. There are decisions we can make about ourselves that stand to [potentially] reposition our relationships into much richer places for all concerned.