chapter22.1

A friend of mine was a guest at the White House for a weekend during the administration of Calvin Coolidge.

Drifting into the President's private office, he heard Coolidge say to one of his secretaries,

"That's a pretty dress you are wearing this morning, and you are a very attractive young woman."

That was probably the most effusive praise Silent Cal had ever bestowed upon a secretary in his life.

It was so unusual, so unexpected, that the secretary blushed in confusion.

Then Coolidge said, "Now, don't get stuck up. I just said that to make you feel good.

From now on, I wish you would be a little bit more careful with your Punctuation."

His method was probably a bit obvious, but the psychology was superb.

It is always easier to listen to unpleasant things after we have heard some praise of our good points.

Everything was going along well;

The Wark Company had contracted to build and complete a large office building in Philadelphia by a certain specified date.

the building was almost finished, when suddenly the sub-contractor making the ornamental bronze work to go on the exterior of this building declared that he couldn't make delivery on schedule.

What! An entire building held up! Heavy penalties! Distressing losses! All because of one man!

Long-distance telephone calls. Arguments! Heated conversations! All in vain.

Then Mr. Gaw was sent to New York to beard the bronze lion in his den.

"Do you know you are the only person in Brooklyn with your name,?" Mr Gaw asked the president of the subcontracting firm shortly after they were introduced.

The president was surprised.

"No, I didn't know that."

"Well," said Mr. Gaw,

"when I got off the train this morning, I looked in the telephone book to get your address, and you're the only person in the Brooklyn phone book with your name."

"I never knew that," the subcontractor said.

He checked the phone book with interest.

"Well, it's an unusual name," he said proudly.

"My family came from Holland and settled in New York almost two hundred years ago."

He continued to talk about his family and his ancestors for several minutes.

When he finished that, Mr. Gaw complimented him on how large a plant he had and compared it favorably with a number of similar plants he had visited.

"It is one of the cleanest and neatest bronze factories I ever saw," said Gaw.

"I've spent a lifetime building up this business," the subcontractor said,

"and I am rather proud of it.

Would you like to take a look around the factory?"

During this tour of inspection, Mr. Gaw complimented the other man on his system of fabrication and told him how and why it seemed superior to those of some of his competitors.

Gaw commented on some unusual machines, and the subcontractor announced that he himself had invented those machines.

He spent considerable time showing Gaw how they operated and the superior work they turned out.

He insisted on taking his visitor to lunch.

So far, mind you, not a word had been said about the real purpose of Gaw's visit.

After lunch, the subcontractor said, "Now, to get down to business.

Naturally, I know why you're here.

I didn't expect that our meeting would be so enjoyable.

You can go back to Philadelphia with my promise that your material will be fabricated and shipped, even if other orders have to be delayed."

Mr. Gaw got everything that he wanted without even asking for it.

The material arrived on time, and the building was completed on the day the completion contract specified.

Would this have happened had Mr. Gaw used the hammer and dynamite method generally employed on such occasions?

Dorothy Wrublewski, a branch manager of the Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, Federal Credit Union, reported to one of our classes how she was able to help one of her employees become more productive.

"We recently hired a young lady as a teller trainee.

Her contact with our customers was very good.

She was accurate and efficient in handling individual transactions.

The problem developed at the end of the day when it was time to balance out.

"The head teller came to me and strongly suggested that I fire this woman.

She is holding up everyone else because she is so slow in balancing out.

I've shown her over and over, but she can't get it.

She's got to go.'

"The next day I observed her working quickly and accurately when handling the normal everyday transactions, and she was very pleasant with our customers.

"It didn't take long to discover why she had trouble balancing out.

After the office closed, I went over to talk with her.

She was obviously nervous and upset.

I praised her for being so friendly and outgoing with the customers and complimented her for the accuracy and speed used in that work.

I then suggested we review the procedure we use in balancing the cash drawer.

Once she realized I had confidence in her, she easily followed my suggestions and soon mastered this function.

We have had no problems with her since then."

Beginning with praise is like the dentist who begins his work with Novocain.

The patient still gets a drilling, but the Novocain is painkilling.

A leader will use …

Principle 1—Begin with praise and honest appreciation.