PLEASING PERSONALITY 623A Carnegie or a Rockefeller or a James J. Hill or a Marshall Field
accumulates a fortune through the application of the same principles
available to all of us, but we envy them their wealth without ever
thinking of studying their philosophy and applying it to ourselves.
We look at a successful person in the hour of their triumph and
wonder how they did it, but we overlook the importance of analyzing
their methods. And we forget the price they had to pay in the careful,
well-organized preparation that had to be made before they could reap
the fruits of their efforts.
Throughout this course you will not find a single new principle.
Everyone of them is as old as civilization itself, yet you will find few
people who seem to understand how to apply them.
The salesman who sold the securities to that artist was not only
a master salesman but he was also a man with a Pleasing Personality.
He was not much to look at, and perhaps that was why the "star"
conceived the idea of playing the joke on him, but even a homely per-
son may have a very attractive personality in the eyes of those whose
handiwork he or she has praised.
Of course, there are some who will get the wrong idea of the
principle by drawing the conclusion that any sort of cheap flattery
will take the place of genuine heart interest. I hope that you are
not one of these. I hope that you are one who understands the real
psychology on which this lesson is based, and that you will make it
your business to study others closely enough to find something about
them or their work that you genuinely admire. Only in this way can you
develop a personality that will be irresistibly attractive.
Cheap flattery has just the opposite effect to that of constituting
a Pleasing Personality. It repels instead of attracting. It is so shallow
that even the ignorant easily detect it.
Perhaps you have noticed that this lesson emphasizes at length
the importance of making it your business to take a keen interest in
other people and in their work, business, or profession.