How to Win Friends and Influence People

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Problem Solving”

In this activity, students utilize the skills recommended in the book to create a hypothetical problem and instruct others in the process used to resolve the problem.

Choose a scenario from the list below or develop your own idea. Identify a strategy the book suggests would be effective for working through that scenario. Brainstorm other approaches that would not be as effective.

• Unmotivated employees
• Disgruntled customers
• Advertising for a big company
• Resolving an argument between two people
• Fostering relationships with new people

Create a skit in which you demonstrate solving the problem ineffectively before taking a different approach based on the principles learned in How to Win Friends and Influence People. Prepare an explanation of the improved methods you would use to resolve the situation, and revise the skit in a way that demonstrates the use of the recommended resolution methods.

Act out the scenario and resolution or create posters for the scenario. Be prepared to discuss the strategies used and their effectiveness.

Teaching Suggestion: One way students might want to reference the book is by relating some of the stories used by the author to illustrate the connections the students made between their conflict and the author’s experience.