RickTheToad
Moderator
You need a healthy balance of the two. Only with time and experience will you learn the ebb and flow on how to deal with people. Always remain calm, speak in a controlled manner and seem to be in control of the situation; even when you aren't. Be nice at times, but firm. Be understandable at times, but keep people on point.After reading How To Win Friends and Influence People, I got a constant message: always listen to peoples' opinion, respect their opinion, and never overtly disagree, but to change their minds you need to agree with them first.
Yet I've also picked up that to be an alpha male, you musn't give a sh!t about other people.
How should the two be meshed? I don't want to "not give a sh!t", but at the same time don't want to end up like a wuss. Yet I'm not sure how to achieve this.
Should I express my own opinions openly, even if it offends people? Or should I covertly suggest my opinion while respecting everyone's opinion? How are the two ideals (Dale Carnegie's views and the Alpha male) mixed together?
This is called experience. Even I am still a student of it.