My Dale Carnegie Adventure - Pt.01: The Orientation

The company I am working for has a tradition of sending its employees to Dale Carnegie Training courses.  At almost everyone’s desk there is some sort of diploma or recognition from Dale Carnegie hanging at the front it’s crazy.

Dale Carnegie is a program that helps improving your social skills such as public speaking, doing things outside your comfort zone, managing stress, and maintaining a positive attitude. (Dale Carnegie himself was graduated from the same college I attended so hey! : )

So it happened that I got enrolled to the program and I will have to attend the three-and-a-half-hour class for the next 6 weeks or so. And I have decided to write about this as a new series for this blog. My current lifestyle has been preventing me to update this blog regularly and I am trying to fix that. Dale Carnegie is a popular program, so sharing my experience while taking it may benefit many other people.

The “Interesting” Orientation

Last week was the orientation and we had the opportunity to see each other for the very first time. The group that my company sends this time includes two very high-ranked members and I (oops!). The class is a small group of around 20 people, all Caucasians except me (for genuine observation without any racism on my part : D), and everyone seem to be older than me. There is a middle-aged lady sitting by herself at the front row who thinks she is really smart and tries very hard to show that. (Ah! I hope my perception of her would change toward the end of the course!) The instructor is nice and friendly but I wonder if he hates me now: when I arrived 5 minutes early, the class was already started so at the end of the class I asked him if we should come to class 15 minutes early next time. The way he responded has something to do with his watch and mine not agreeing. Yeah, I was already showing an “annoying Asian guy” on the first day – what a great start.

How to Effectively Receive Dale Carnegie Awards

There are two people in my company, Pepsi and Coke (and yeah, I changed their names). They were in the same group of people attending DCP and Pepsi received the highest DC award along with a bunch of other stuff whereas Coke didn’t get squat. The problem is both Pepsi and Coke work closely with me in the company, and I know that Pepsi is not a good public speaker or is he strong with any other social skill. His work attitude is not the best and he still has a lot to work on to be effective at work. Coke, on the other hand, is a charismatic, energetic kind of guy who is an eloquent speaker. Heck, he is an ordained minister who sometimes would imitate Joel Osteen for us to watch (and he would do a really great job!).

So why in the world would Pepsi gets recognized and awarded while Coke isn’t? The answer is simple: the awards go to the one who shows that he/she has tried the hardest or has improved the most. This makes sense in the way I don’t really appreciate. It implies that the students’ pre-existing abilities are irrelevant, that any effort a person makes prior to the course is not to be accounted for at all. You are not gonna be rewarded if you have been learning to improve yourself for a long period of time before taking the course. It’s like an art class in which the first place goes to the one who didn’t know how to draw but now can draw an apple instead of the one who could paint a perfect orchard and now is getting slightly better at digital color compositions.

What I Should Do for the Class

Of course I wasn’t the only one with the “Coke vs. Pepsi” observation. The two bosses/classmates of mine are planning to deliberately appear so “pathetic” in the beginning, maybe with tears if necessary, in order to maximize their “progresses” to others. I have to say that it is a really tempting option but maybe I shouldn't go with that. This is gonna be a large amount of time I will invest in, and I should learn what I can to improve myself to become for effective at work and in Life. After all, I am not one of the big bosses yet. : )

So here is my goal for this journey: to try the best I can to present myself and to learn from others; to impress everyone from the very beginning and not holding back as if I am in America’s Got Talent; to appreciate every moment being in the program; and to make some new good friends if possible.

I am looking forward to what is happening, and will try to share this experience with you as meaningfully and truthfully as I can, and I hope you too will enjoy reading it. Thank you very much!