"Street Smart Disciplines of Successful People: 7 Indispensable Disciplines for Breakout Business Success" by John Kuhn and Mark Mullins presents straight-talking, street smart guidance and best practices mined from successful people and businesses.
Street Smart People Skills and Strategies
Despite seeing ourselves as reasonable and intelligent people, we all exhibit unflattering behaviors at times. However, you can learn and improve people skills. Take a personal audit of those behavioral tendencies covered below. Adopting and practicing them daily can be pivotal in forging effective relationships in your life and business.
Have Patience--Patience is one of the greatest virtues and unequivocally the single most important strategy to learn and practice in dealing with people. As Benjamin Franklin said, "Genius is nothing but a greater aptitude for patience." Impatience is one of the major and most obvious causes of interpersonal problems.
First Impressions--Don't make snap judgments. Don't label people before you have a chance to find out what they are really all about. Remember the old warning against judging a book by its cover; in many cases people are not what they seem at first glance. Make it your goal to get to the bottom of each person's personality.
Make Your First Impression a Strong One--Create a strong, favorable and memorable impression when you first meet people to pass the A.C.I.D. test. Research has shown that most people form an impression about others in the first ten seconds of their initial meeting, and it's very difficult to reroute that brain wiring for a more favorable take.
Greet People with Enthusiasm--Be outgoing and enthusiastic when interacting with people. Radiate! Always make the first move. How often are you the first to shake someone's hand and introduce yourself? Try it the next time you're in a social gathering, event or party. You'll be amazed at how many more people you meet and how much they appreciate your effort to break the ice.
Smile--A smile is the universal welcome, an always-understood gesture of warmth, friendliness, and kindness. A smile helps establish rapport and makes you more approachable.
Maintain Direct Eye Contact--People communicate with their eyes so always maintain direct eye contact. By doing that, you demonstrate that you are interested in what the other person is saying. If you look someone in the eye, you can see important clues to their thoughts and feelings.
Remember People's Names--Sprinkling a person's name throughout a conversation sounds and feels good, puts a nice spin on the conversation, and gets things going in a positive direction.
Be Interested in People--Find out what people really want. Put yourself in their hands. See things truly from their perpective; strive to understand they wants, needs and desires.
Listen Actively--Top-level executives from all over the world say the same thing loud and clear: "Learn to be a great listener." William Shakespeare said, "Hear the meaning in the word."
Don't Be a Critic--Avoid being critical or argumentative. Before you speak, ask yourself, "Is it my place to criticize? Did anyone ask for my opinion? Will my input really help the situation?
Admit Mistakes Immediately--If you make a mistake, admit it immediately and apologize. Everyone makes mistakes. To err is human, after all. The worst thing you can do is to fail to acknowledge mistakes.
Deal with People's Moods--Everyone has a bad day now and then. You can try to avoid people or keep contact to a minimum when you know they're a bit testy. The key is to understand how to deal with them in friction-free ways while they're in a grouchy frame of mind. Navigate through the situation. Don't get shipwrecked on the rocks of another person's negativity.
Don't Be Your Own Favorite Subject--Don't talk too much about yourself. Reduce your use of the word "I." Try to get the other person involved in the conversation, and pay close attention to your listen-to-talk ratio.
Be the Best Person You Can Be--Politeness and proper etiquette are at the core of interacting well with people, yet basic courtesies and social skills are often overlooked. "Never lose a chance to say a kind word." William Thackeray
Written to engage, educate and inspire, "Street Smart Disciplines of Successful People" is essential for those of us who want to climb the ladder of success.
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