#‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ is now targeting teen girls

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Dale Carnegie’s advice remains surprisingly relevant for today’s teenage girls.
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Dale Carnegie published “How to Win Friends and Influence People” in 1936, giving birth to the self-help genre and launching a title that would sell more than 30 million copies and become one of the best-selling books of all time. It regularly makes lists of most-influential books and has long been a management bible of sorts.

A spinoff book written by Carnegie’s daughter, Donna Dale Carnegie, called “How to Win Friends & Influence People for Teen Girls,” originally published in 2005, has now been updated and revamped for the digital age.

There is arguably no better time in life to win friends and influence people than in the teenage years, and Carnegie’s advice remains surprisingly relevant. Carnegie’s original advice is used, then repurposed with a context that will resonate with teen girls. Such as: “Criticism is futile. It puts a person on the defensive and usually makes him strive to justify himself.” One of Carnegie’s main principles — Don’t criticize, condemn or complain — seems refreshing in this age of constant social-media outrage.

“Criticizing, condemning and complaining are like building a giant brick wall between you and the other person,” explains Donna Dale Carnegie. “It’s hard for anything else to get through once it’s there, because you feel like you need to protect yourself, to block out any future hurt.”

Or another timeless gem from the original book: “People aren’t interested in you. They are not interested in me. They are interested in themselves.”

“What does this have to do with talking to people? It means you don’t have to get stressed about sounding interesting! You just need to sound interested,” explains the revised version. Advice that will take just about anyone from the hallways of high school to any professional cocktail event.