Don’t you have much more faith in ideas that you discover for yourself than in ideas that are handed to you on a silver platter? If so, isn’t it bad judgment to try to ram your opinions down the throats of other people? Isn’t it wiser to make suggestions – and let the other person think out the conclusion? Do you enjoy being told what to do? no, right!? You prefer to think on your own. Independently. You have your own ideas. You don’t need to be told what to do.

And guess what? Everybody else feels exactly THE SAME! We all prefer to have our own ideas and act on our own ideas. So why not use this to our advantage? Why not let the other person have the idea? Or at least let her think that it was his or her idea? If we care about the results, wouldn’t that be the smartest thing to do anyway? Who cares if we get the credit or not? It’s the results that count.

If we have a great idea, we can try to make suggestions and lead the other person to that idea. If we’re lucky the other person gets there, shouts “Eureka!” and is 100% convinced of the idea and 100% motivated to get that idea executed. GREAT! Now we’re off to the races and the result is already almost achieved.

Carnegie makes the example of Mr. Wesson who sold sketches for design businesses. After failing hundreds of times in getting one studio to buy his sketches, he changed his approach. He created a few incomplete sketches and asked the potential buyers what they would add to make the sketches useful for them. The stylists offered their ideas, Mr. Wesson completed the sketches accordingly, and in the end could sell all of them. If we truly care about the results, giving other people credit by letting them feel that it was their idea is a great way to accomplish the results we’re after.