Professor Sweet suggested a book in class toward the beginning of the semester entitled How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. At the time, I figured: “Heck, I’m not so good at the ‘friends’ thing, and I need something to read in my ‘free time’ here at GCC… I’ll try it!” So, I hopped on Amazon.com, and bought the thing. Great sales pitch, Professor Sweet, but…
Holy Humanism! At the beginning of Spring Break I opened the book. From the first chapter onward, I realized Mr. Carnegie (pictured on the left) had a fairly different ideological stance from my own. The first lesson of his book is called: “If You Want to Gather Honey, Don’t Kick Over the Beehive.” Mr. Carnegie makes his point very clear: NEVER criticize people. By this he means something similar to what we mean in the sales context when we say: “The customer is always right.” NEVER tell people they are wrong. Never, Mr. Carnegie, sir?
I was always a bit uncomfortable with this idiom (“the customer is always right”), given the Lord Jesus commands us to “speak the truth in love” in Ephesians 4. I have seen “the truth in love” in action affect the lives of those around me in radical ways, “selling” them to the gospel. Jesus Christ, in his time on earth, was an excellent salesman (see a post I wrote toward the beginning of the semester, entitled Earning the Right to Be Heard). He is still an excellent salesman, as he works through each one of us. He always has been and he always will be, and excellent salesman.
Dale Carnegie was also considered an excellent salesman. Now how does that compute? Two men, with opposing sales approaches, can achieve the same end? I supposed this was not entirely impossible, but I did not wish to equate the sales techniques of Dale Carnegie with those of Jesus Christ, well, God. So, I began to look for what stood amiss in Mr. Carnegie’s methodology, as well as that of much of sales in general. I began to wonder if sales was something the Lord might admonish, but the anti-Neo-Platonic-Dualist in me fought hard for the practice.
I have come to a conclusion: The art of selling is not inherently evil (I’m sure you were wondering), but some methods of selling – to quote Romans 1:25 – “exchange the truth of God for a lie,” cheating their users of true, satisfactory, sales practices.
Mr. Carnegie “(won) friends and (influenced) people” because he let them believe whatever they wanted; he let them believe a lie. I can’t help but wonder if he came up dry a few times in this, however, when a misunderstanding about the product or service he allowed the customer to believe hurt the sales relationship. Nonetheless, he found success in his ways, because people don’t like being told they’re wrong.
Jesus “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52)” because he didn’t let them believe whatever they wanted. By doing so, he showed them that he loved them. He cared enough about them that he wouldn’t let them believe a lie for his own advantage. Everyone wants to know that they are loved, and so, in this, Jesus found success.
The Bible repeatedly speaks of Jesus as being “hated.” I can attribute this to one thing: There are those who don’t see through the truth to the love. The advantage of Mr. Carnegie’s strategy over that of Christ is that he doesn’t push away the blind, allowing them to remain in their blind state to make a sale. The advantage of Christ’s strategy over Mr. Carnegie’s is that he heals the blind. There are those who don’t desire to be healed. But let us not forsake the teaching of the Lord for a few extra vain successes. You were called to sell, but in truth and love.
BoweryJE22
I admire your analysis of the book and relating it to how Christ calls us to be. I had a professor in high school who also had recommended the book to me and I always intended to read it. I greatly appreciate your view of the book and explaining how Mr. Carnegie viewed things differently than Christians. Perhaps if I do read the book, I will also be able to come at from your angle.
I liked your point about selling not being evil, but some of the ways people go about it are evil. A sales process should not be manipulative or dishonest. The term, “the customer is always right” is not always right. I also liked your point about the blind man remaining in blindness. Jesus knows what is good for us and it is not good for us to remain idle. We must be improving and not sitting in our ignorance.
Jordan, this is excellent. I love the fact that you didn’t just read Carnegie’s book but thought critically about it and compared it to scripture. I agree with you that while Carnegie’s method of winning friends and influencing people is definitely easier at times than Jesus’ method, it is not always the best way to proceed. I think we need to be both observant and attentive to when a person needs unconditional love, and when they need truth spoken into their life. I think Jesus was the best example of how to do this so I want to look at his life to learn how to do it better. Thanks for sharing!
Very awesome, Jordan! I haven’t heard much criticism of Mr. Carnegie’s work–actually any–so it was interesting to hear your perspective. On the surface, I agree. Anything can be done for good or evil, depending on motivations and methods. I’d like to dig in a little deeper and read it myself now. Thanks for sharing!