Good morning.
In the early 1990s, before he became CEO of five different tech companies, Peter McKay was a young controller with an accounting degree who was trying to make a move into sales. “I’m like, ‘if I don’t get out of accounting now, I’ll be there for life,’” says McKay. Facing resistance, he signed up for a Dale Carnegie course and then landed a sales role at Computer Associates. “To this day, I still quote all the things that I learned from Dale Carnegie,” says McKay, now CEO of cybersecurity company Snyk.
As McKay and I were chatting yesterday about ransomware and plans for an IPO, we discovered we’re both Dale Carnegie grads. I did an eight-week course at 13 as part of Junior Achievement, and still have my marked-up copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People . After jokingly repeating each other’s name—the “sweetest and most important sound” to the name-holder, Carnegie wrote—we marveled that a 1936 self-help book by a former lard salesman has remained a bestseller for almost nine decades.
Notable alums include Ronald Reagan, Johnny Cash, Tony Robbins, Lyndon Johnson, cosmetics entrepreneur Mary Kay Ash and automaker Lee Iacocca. Warren Buffett and homicidal cult leader Charlie Manson were apparently both drawn to Chapter 7 : “Let the other fellow feel that the idea is his.”
Dale Carnegie CEO Joe Hart has his own theories about why the training is still around—and in fact has expanded to 86 countries and a growing list of enterprise clients. “When I talk to CEOs, it’s about people management and AI,” he told me. “How do I connect with people and build trust? With AI, how do I deploy this in a way where people see the opportunity and not the fear?”
Personally, I’ve always liked the vague air of vulnerability evoked by the brand. It’s humbling to admit that you’d like to win a few more friends or learn How to Stop Worrying and Start Living . In an era where people kept their mental health struggles to themselves, here was an admission that you didn't have all the answers; that you’d like to get better at connecting with people. And wanting to do better in business is an aspiration that transcends left or right. As Junior Achievement Worldwide CEO Asheesh Advani mentioned to me earlier this week, “Everyone supports entrepreneurship.”
Is Dale Carnegie also a bit cheesy, dated and occasionally wrong? Sure. The first time I read some line about birds being happy because they don’t try to impress other birds, the image of a peacock came to mind. And we’ve learned that minimizing time with narcissists is probably a better life skill than trying to entertain them.
Still, as McKay says, there’s no downside “when you walk down the hall and remember someone's name.”
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Diane Brady
diane.brady@fortune.com
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This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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