American · 1888–1955
Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) was an American writer and teacher of public speaking and interpersonal skills. Born on a farm in Missouri, he worked as a salesman and an actor before he began teaching public-speaking classes at a New York YMCA in 1912. The classes grew into the Dale Carnegie Training organization, which still runs courses around the world. His best-known book, How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), has sold tens of millions of copies and is one of the best-selling books of the twentieth century. He also wrote The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, and a biography of Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln the Unknown. His books use short chapters, plain language, and real anecdotes to teach practical habits of conversation, persuasion, and self-confidence. Critics have called his methods manipulative, but his work set the template for the modern self-help book and shaped business training in the United States and abroad.