Dale Carnegie was born to a poor farmer James William Carnegie and his wife Amanda Elizabeth Harrison. He is best known for his book How to Win Friends and Influence People published by Simon & Schuster in 1936. More than 5 million copies of his book in 31 languages were sold in his life, and there have been more than 450,000 graduates from his Dale Carnegie Institute. Dale Carnegie Training was founded on October 22, 1912 and will be celebrating its 100-year anniversary on October 22, 2012. Dale Carnegie Training is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York with its representation in all 50 states of America and more than 80 countries in the world.  It has 160 managing directors, 2,700 instructors, and the training is conducted in 25 languages. An article about IBM, appearing in Time contained ‘Don’t walk away from your past. Build on it. The crucial building blocks are: skills, technology, and marketing assets that can be transferred or modified to pursue new opportunities. Those are a company’s core assets’¦.far more so than any particular product or service’¦’ Dale Carnegie too believed in it. He also emphasized on its rule #17 that ‘Try to see things from the other person’s point of view.’

1. Lee Iacocca

Lido Anthony Iacocca, better known as Lee Iacocca, was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S. on October 15, 1924. He is one of the most famous businessmen of the world and is best known for his revival of Chrysler Corporation in 1980. He was President and CEO of Chrysler 1978 to 1992. He is also known for engineering the Mustang and Ford Pinto Cars. Commenting on Dale Carnegie Leadership he said, ‘Like just about everybody else, I grew up scared to death of all the thought of standing in front of a group people and giving a speech. It still terrifies me. When I landed my first important job at Ford, they sent me to a Dale Carnegie course. The idea was to make me more comfortable in front of an audience, and it worked. The fear didn’t go away, but I learned how to control it. Fear takes a lot of energy I discovered, and channeling all that energy into the speech itself is the best way to make it work for you instead of against you.’

2. Tom Monaghan

Tom Monaghan was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan on March 25, 1937. He is an American entrepreneur who founded Domino’s Pizza in 1960. He also owned the Detroit Tigers. During his apprenticeship, he and his brother James borrowed $500 to purchase a pizza store. In his own words ‘I started out in architecture school and got into the pizza business to pay my way through school. The pizza business was losing so much money I never got back into architecture.’ In 1998 he sold Domino’s Pizza to Bain Capital for about $1 million. Tom Monaghan, like many other successful people, was inspired by Dale Carnegie.

3. Lyndon Baines Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson, better known as LBJ, was born on August 27, 1908 and died on January 22, 1973. He became the 36th U.S. President after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. He completed Kennedy’s term and later on was elected in the 1964 election. He is one of only four persons who had been elected to all the offices of government as: Representative, Senator, Vice President, and President. He is known as a dominant person and is known for increasing America’s involvement in Vietnam from 16,000 soldiers in 1963 to 550,000 soldiers in 1968.

4.  Bill Marriott, Jr.

Bill Marriott, Jr.  was born in Marriot Settlement, Utah on September 17, 1900 and died in New Hampshire on August 13, 1985 at the age of 84. He founded Marriot Corporation comprising the world’s largest hospitality hotel chains and food service companies. The Marriot Company rose from a meager start in 1927 as a root beer stand to the giant business having 1400 restaurants, 143 hotels, 2 theme parks, and a line of cruise ships. His aim in his own words was ‘To become the number one hospitality company in the world,’ and to achieve it he won the employees’ loyalty. He said, ‘You’ve got to make your employees happy. If the employees are happy, they are going to make the customers happy.’

5. Chuck Norris

Carlos Ray Norris, better known as Chuck Norris, was born to Wilma and Ray Norris in Ryan, Oklahoma, U.S. on March 10, 1942. He is a renowned American martial artist and actor. He is known for his school Chun Kuk Do and for his appearances in many famous films including his starring alongside Bruce Lee. He is a devout Christian and has written many books on Christianity. He was the first westerner to receive an 8th Degree Black Belt Grand Master rank in the documented history of Tae Kwon Do. He received a Golden Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Karate Union Hall of Fame on July 1, 2000.  He was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum’s Hall of Fame in 1999.

6. Rosalynn Carter

Rosalynn Carter was born to Allie M. Smith and Wilburn Edgar Smith in Plains, Georgia, U.S. on August 18, 1927. She is the wife of the former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and was First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981.  Sitting on the cabinet and in policy meetings, she advised her husband while in office. She was known as a prominent advocate on mental health research. She attended Plains High School and Georgia Southern College. She is one of the famous Dale Carnegie graduates.

7. Joe DiMaggio

Joe DiMaggio, nicknamed The Yankee Clipper, was born in Martinez, California on November 25, 1914 and died in Hollywood, Florida on March 8, 1999. He was an American baseball center fielder who played for the Yankees throughout his 13-year career. During his time, the Yankees won nine World Series championships. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955. He applied the Dale Carnegie teachings that you should treat the others as you want to be treated, and that to win folks over to your side, make them feel important.

8. Dave Thomas

Rex David Thomas, better known as Dave Thomas, was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S. on July 2, 1932 and died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. on January 8, 2002 at the age of 69. He founded the famous hamburger fast food restaurant chain Wendy’s. He named the chain after his daughter nicknamed Wenda, and operated the business as CEO. He is also famous for his more than 800 appearances on TV commercials, more than any other CEO. In the 1950s,
Col. Harland Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, met Dave and sold the KFC franchise to the Clauss family. Thomas advised Sanders to make KFC’s signature chicken bucket to include red stripes, and advised him to appear in person in the TV commercials. Thomas is regarded as one of the most famous Dale Carnegie graduates.

9. Elliott Pete Estes

Elliott Pete Estes was born in Menton, Michigan on January 7, 1916 and died on March 24, 1988. He started as a creamery worker and shifted to General Motors at the suggestion of a cousin. He is credited with the successful launching of the Oldsmobile Rocket V8 engine. He worked as a chief engineer at the Pontiac division in 1961. He became President of the Chevrolet division in 1965. He became the President of General Motors in 1974 and worked in this position until his retirement in 1981.

10. Orville Redenbacher

Orville Redenbacher was born in Brazil, Indiana on July 16, 1907 and died in Coronado, California on September 19, 1995. He attended Brazil High School and graduated with a degree in agronomy from Purdue University. In coordination with Charlie Bowman, he developed a very successful hybrid strain of popcorn named Chester Hybrids. Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn is a top-selling brand in the U.S. In 1988 he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by Purdue University.

Conclusion:

According to Dale Carnegie’s findings, based on the experience of training more than 8 million trainees, the first thing for success is to: clarify the vision. It has then to be followed by appropriate planning. Other essentials for success are to prioritize the strategies and action time, to build relationships at home and at work, to earn the right to express oneself, to be optimistic without being tense, and to lead by example.