Wed 7 Nov 2007
Lyndon Johnson was the 36th President of the United States. He succeeded John F. Kennedy following his assassination in 1963. Johnson wasn’t the most popular president because he escalated American involvement in the Vietnam War. Johnson was known to be the most frugal of all the presidents. He was a millionaire but had the habit of squeezing every penny out of all of the people he did business with. I don’t want to give you a history lesson on L.B.J. but that’s a little bit of background on him.
The point of this post is to show you the L.B.J. had a great philosophy on communication with others. Long before his presidency, he created a list of 10 points to gain respect and admiration from the people that he came in contact with.
Here is the list that he created:
- Learn to remember names. Inefficiency at this point may indicate that your interest is not sufficiently outgoing.
- Be a comfortable person so there is no strain in being with you. Be an old-shoe kind of individual.
- Acquire the quality of relaxed-easy going so that things do not ruffle you.
- Don’t be egotistical. Guard against the impression that you know it all.
- Cultivate the quality of being interesting so people will get something of value from their association with you.
- Study to get the “scratchy” elements out of your personality, even those of which you may be unconscious.
- Sincerely attempt to heal, on an honest basis, every misunderstanding you have had or now have. Drain off your grievances.
- Practice liking people until you learn to do so genuinely.
- Never miss an opportunity to say a word of congratulation upon anyone’s achievement, or express sympathy in sorrow or disappointment.
- Give spiritual strength to people, and they will give genuine affection to you.
That is a direct quote of the list. Now I’m going to break it down and look at every point on his list individually.
1. Learn to remember names. Inefficiency at this point may indicate that your interest is not sufficiently outgoing.
This point sort of goes along with my post about making people feel important. Little things like remembering people’s names can go a long way. Most people are not very good with names when they only first meet someone. Remembering someone’s name after meeting them and only hearing it once can really show that you valued meeting that person. It is a great thing to get in the habit of doing.
2. Be a comfortable person so there is no strain in being with you. Be an old-shoe kind of individual.
Make an attempt to be that person. You know, the one that everyone says, “the first time I met him/her, I felt like I’ve just known him/her forever.” You want to gain that reputation because that’s who people want to hire, that’s the person that has connections in all sorts of industries. This is a great trait to acquire.
3. Acquire the quality of relaxed-easy going so that things do not ruffle you.
Relieve stress in your life. Let things roll off you. It will make you a much happier person and make you a much better person to be around.
4. Don’t be egotistical. Guard against the impression that you know it all.
No one likes an ego maniac. You want to appear down to Earth to everyone. If you constantly talk to people like you know everything, you will lose a lot of respect. Be gracious and humble and people will enjoy being around you.
5. Cultivate the quality of being interesting so people will get something of value from their association with you.
This point really makes sense as well. You want people to walk away from a conversation with you feeling like they really gained something from that. Make people feel like, just by knowing you, they have gained a valuable contact.
6. Study to get the “scratchy” elements out of your personality, even those of which you may be unconscious.
Break the bad habits. Do your best to find the character traits that are less than desirable and eliminate them. Work a little bit harder to be a better person to be around.
7. Sincerely attempt to heal, on an honest basis, every misunderstanding you have had or now have. Drain off your grievances.
Don’t hold grudges with anyone. They are pointless and, most likely, meaningless. Really evaluate why you and this other person have this misunderstanding. Upon further evaluation, you’ll probably learn that these little quarrels are, in actuality, just simple misunderstandings. Grudges should hold no place in your life.
8. Practice liking people until you learn to do so genuinely.
This is a great habit to have. If you genuinely liked everyone that you came in contact with, how great would life be? You would have so many friends and so many great contacts. It’s been proven that people like people who like them. Like everyone and everyone will like you. It seems so simple…
9. Never miss an opportunity to say a word of congratulation upon anyone’s achievement, or express sympathy in sorrow or disappointment.
This shows people that you honestly care about what they are going through in their life right now. Show people you care and they will treat you the same.
10. Give spiritual strength to people, and they will give genuine affection to you.
Be a motivator. Make people feel like they can do anything. If you are the person that gives them words of strength, they will come to you for encouragement and affection.
Follow these steps towards being a better communicator and it can take you far in your career and in life. That’s how you can let the words L.B.J. effect your career.
-M
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