Mubarak & Carnegie

The world has watched, riveted, as events in Egypt have unfolded over the past few weeks. The factors that have led Hosni Mubarak to resign after 30 years in power are many. The power of the internet; the influence of Facebook; the stepping aside of the USA and Barack Obama to allow the Egyptian people to determine their own destiny; and the list goes on. History in the making – the Middle East is unlikely to ever be the same.

Over 70 years ago Dale Carnegie wrote his bestselling book, “How to Win Friends & Influence People”. During the ensuing period over 15 million copies have been sold. One of the easiest to read and most practical books ever scribed. It now seems unlikely, unfortunately, that any of those were purchased by Mr. Mubarak, or if they were that he heeded the lessons written.

In his now famous book Carnegie eloquently espoused the notion that ‘you can’t win an argument’, ‘if you’re wrong admit it’, the power of a ‘drop of honey’, getting others to say ‘yes’, and most importantly that everyone, including the Egyptian people, want – no, need – to feel what they do is important.

Mubarak may leave his long-held position as the leader of Egypt as a financially rich man – there seems to be little doubt about that. Sadly for him however, history rarely records much of that as an achievement in and of itself. Rather he will be judged by the things he did, or did not do, while in office. In the simple words of a past supervisor, did he leave ‘it’ better than he found it? On that score alone his reputation feels doomed.

Dare I say Mr. Mubarak would have done significantly better if he’d picked up a copy of Carnegie’s book when he came into power, and applied its lessons!