Can we learn something about blogging from words written 80 years ago?
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[two_third_last] Dale Carnegie published a book almost 8 decades ago, the title of which has now become virtually immortalised in the world of business marketers – “How to win friends and influence people”.
Not only is the title of his self-help book almost a daily household phrase, but the principles espoused are as relevant today as they were in the 1930s, when Carnegie ran his 14-week training courses.
The course and the book, which has now sold over 15 million copies, and which underwent a major revision in 1981 (to make its language and anecdotes more up-to-date) have several stated goals:
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- Get you out of a mental rut, give you new thoughts, new visions, new ambitions.
- Enable you to make friends quickly and easily.
- Increase your popularity.
- Help you to win people to your way of thinking.
- Increase your influence, your prestige, your ability to get things done.
- Enable you to win new clients, new customers.
- Increase your earning power.
- Make you a better salesman, a better executive.
- Help you to handle complaints, avoid arguments, keep your human contacts smooth and pleasant.
- Make you a better speaker, a more entertaining conversationalist.
- Make the principles of psychology easy for you to apply in your daily contacts.
- Help you to arouse enthusiasm among your associates.
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Today, new tools are available for achieving many of the goals set out in Carnegie’s book – and not the least of these is the web-site blog.
In an article discussing the benefits of blogging by CEOs, Ashkan Karbasfrooshan expounds the ideals of the written word as a means of communication – from the top down.
As I embark on my goal of building up my blog-power, many of these points ring meaningful bells of warning, and advice.
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Where do you get the time to write so much as a company CEO, and more importantly, shouldn’t you be closing deals or doing something more useful?
Do What Comes Naturally To You
Some entrepreneurs are technologists, others are salespeople, a few are storytellers.
If you enjoy writing and happen to be the CEO, then it’s a marriage made in heaven if you can balance your duties.
The Obvious Reasons for Blogging
1 – Own Thyself
Anthony Robbins put it best when he said: “We’re defined by the stories we tell ourselves.”
2 – Influence, Authority, and Brand
Value is driven by goodwill (defined simply as the value of your brand). Brand building is an exercise done through B2B and B2C initiatives.
Less Well-Known Benefits of Becoming the Chief Pontificator
3 – Leave Your Staff Alone
The cardinal sin many CEOs make is micromanaging and suffocating talented employees.
4 – Bide your time
Everything takes longer than anticipated … More often than not, CEOs find themselves waiting – even though few would be considered patient. As such, CEOs look for things to focus their attention to. Effective blogging will keep a CEO busy and avoid him from micromanaging staff and lieutenants, allowing even the best of teams the time and freedom to do their job.
5 – Efficiency
Verbal communication is undervalued these days, but people don’t listen, so sending an article that you wrote (and one that was published on a leading and respected publication) is a powerful way to convey the message.
6 – Shutting Up
The best part of writing so much is that when you meet people, there’s a good chance they’ve read your work, so you can shut up and listen, letting others do the talking because you don’t need to shill and give them your pitch.
7 – Learn
To publish, you not only need to research your topic, but you need to distill a lot of information into a coherent and cohesive argument or summary. But the true learning starts after you press publish and readers chime in via email, in the comments section and on counter-posts.
…more at CEO Bloggers: To Blog or Not to Blog
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan is the founder and CEO of WatchMojo, he hosts a show on business and has published many books on success. Follow him @ashkan.
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BTW – Did you know that there was a substantial section in the original version of Dale Carnegie’s classic self-help book that was omitted from the 1981 reprint. It was dedicated to methods for improving one’s personal life, and had seven major topics…
Seven Rules For Making Your Home Life Happier
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- Don’t nag
- Don’t try to make your partner over
- Don’t criticize
- Give honest appreciation
- Pay little attentions
- Be courteous
- Read a good book on the sexual side of marriage
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