The great Dale Carnegie said that “Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.”
For those of you unfamiliar with the term “horse sense” in today’s terms it would most closely be associated with “common sense.” Which of course isn’t actually all that common.
Dale Carnegie believed in the power of enthusiasm. He saw it in action during thousands of sessions of his Human Relations, Public Speaking, Sales and Leadership courses. I saw it in hundreds of those same courses. I see it all the time today as well.
People who are very enthusiastic about whatever it is they are doing simply do it better, in every way, than less enthusiastic people.
You, and every other human on the planet, can spot an enthusiastic person a mile away. You can also feel them, hear them, and maybe even be contaminated by them. You, and every other human on the planet can also spot an unenthusiastic person a mile away. And you most certainly can be contamination by them.
If you’re in a leadership position then it is vital to understand that you lead by example, whether you intend to or not. Your people are watching and they are watching to see if you do the same things you tell them to do. They are also watching to see if you do it enthusiastically.
Are you enthusiastically walking your talk. Merely going through the motions won’t get it done. As a leader you are the “model” for the actions you want from your people. But not only is it important “what” you do, it’s also very important “how” you do it.
You know that your more enthusiastic people are more productive and better team members. What you may not always realize is that they often model their enthusiasm level after yours.
Dale Carnegie also said to “act enthusiastic and you will be enthusiastic.” There will be days when your enthusiasm level isn’t what it needs to be. On those days follow Mr. Carnegie’s wise advice and act enthusiastic. Sooner or later your natural enthusiasm will take over and your “acting” will be replaced by the real thing.
Your enthusiasm is contagious, make sure you have enough so that everyone who comes near you catches a bit of yours.
Yeah,I loved that line where Mr Sean says enthusiastic people can be felt from miles away.I am invigilating national High school exams in Uganda.And I have been sentient that a few of my invigilating colleagues were frank to aver it to me that I am a self driven enthusiastic person that even one female invigilator openly divulged it to me that she has loved working with me.And I saw that even the students we invigilate find me enthusiastic about what I do by the way they decided to specifically come to me to express what they’ve goofed about their just collected scripts before we seal them to further send them for marking.Yes I find Steve Keating’s writing about enthusiasm very true.I would like to know learn more from Keating.Thanks in advance!
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoy my posts and find them useful.