The Leadership Japan Series By Dale Carnegie Training Japan

SMILE !     Grumpy, angry looking, unfriendly customer facing staff  - welcome to America!  Dale Carnegie's Human Relation's Principle Number Five is "SMILE".  It may sound a bit simplistic but actually the idea is very profound and has a lot of depth.  You would never guess that this idea to smile when you meet people, especially when in a customer facing roles, had been around since "How To Win Friends And Influence People" was first published in 1936.   I was in the US attending  our Owner's Meeting in Chicago, but had also spent time in New York and Washington DC, so my observations were not influenced by one location.     The idea of smiling when you answer the phone, hasn't made it to some of the staff working in major hotels yet either.  Very angry voices would pick up the phone and repeat the name of the Hotel.  I asked one lady if she was angry? That threw her and she said "no", so I asked her why she answered the phone with such an abrupt, unfriendly, angry voice?  Her self-awareness factor was tren