McGinnis - Bringing out the best in people : how to enjoy helping others excel

I strongly recommend this book to all who are interested in improving their relationships with others.

J OHN W OODEN

former head basketball coach, UCLA

An exciting, power-packed book. I want all my staff to read and discuss it together.

L LOYD O GILVIE, pastor

Hollywood Presbyterian Church

A winner! McGinnis knows how to help people discover all that life holds for them.

B RUCE L ARSON, author

Theres a Lot More to Health than Not Being Sick

Unless you live in isolation, this is a must-read book!

D ENIS W AITLEY, author

Seeds of Greatness and The Double Win

To the extent that leaders are made, not born, this book will help to make them, as well as anything I know.

D AVID H UBBARD, president

Fuller Theological Seminary

Bringing Out the Best in People can change your life and everyone with whom you come in contact.

M ARY K AY A SH, chairman

Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc.

This book will not only help you bring out the best in people, but in yourself as well.

G ODFREY L. S MITH III

Chartered Life Underwriter

Mutual of New York

I have made this book mandatory reading for all of my managers.

M ICHAEL C. S CROGGIE, president

Unicorn Systems Company

This is McGinnis best book yet. It is incredibly thorough, yet delightfully readable.

T IM H ANSEL, president, Summit Expedition

author, When I Relax, I Feel Guilty

Anyone concerned with excellence and how best to achieve it should read Bringing Out the Best in People.

J AMES F. M ONTGOMERY, chairman

Great Western Financial Corporation

Whether your needs are to improve your managing or your parenting, this book is a gold mine of practical tips.

K EITH W. S EHNERT, M.D., author

Stress/Unstress

Bringing Out the Best in People

How to Enjoy Helping Others Excel

Alan Loy McGinnis

BRINGING OUT THE BEST IN PEOPLE

How to Enjoy Helping Others Excel

Copyright 1985 Augsburg Publishing House. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write to: Permissions, Augsburg Fortress, Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440.

Large-quantity purchases or custom editions of this book are available at a discount from the publisher. For more information, contact the sales department at Augsburg Fortress, Publishers, 1-800-328-4648, or write to: Sales Director, Augsburg Fortress, Publishers, P.O. Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440-1209.

eISBN 9781451403503

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McGinnis, Alan Loy.

Bringing out the best in people.

Bibliography: p.

Includes index.

1. Motivation (psychology) 2. Psychology, applied. I. Title.

BF503.M44 1985 153.8 84-28400

ISBN 0-8066-2150-8

ISBN 0-8066-2151-6 (pbk.)

Dedication

This is a book about teaching people to succeed and it is dedicated to a man who does not need to read it, Mr. William B. Carruth.

When Carruth arrived at the Friendswood School one sweltering day in September 1949, he must have been a little bewildered at the ragtag group of kids he found there. It took only one building to house all 12 grades, the library comprised less than 200 volumes, and there were so few students that a new teacher was given a wide array of subjects: history, geography, civics, English.

Mr. Carruth was one of a whole stream of men who returned from the war in a hurry to make up for lost time. He knew exactly what he wanted to bea teacher. That meant returning to college, and it meant he would be 33 before facing his first class. He had no illusions, I hope, that he would ever make much money working in the small towns of Texas. But when he appeared before us that day, we could tell that he was eager to begin and that he meant business. Yet there was a glint of mischief in his eyes too, which made him hard to size up. Perhaps that was part of his appealthere was always a certain mystery to his past and his personality that kept us off guard. Perhaps it was the energy and enthusiasm he brought to his teaching. Or perhaps it was the way he leaned back in his chair after school, his hands clasped behind his head, listening to a little knot of farm children talk on and on about their dreams and fears. At any rate, I was nuts about him after the first month, and would have followed him anywhere. That was 35 years ago, but I still recall many of those conversationswhere we stood, what he said, how I felt.

Mr. Carruth has long since left teaching and now lives in quiet retirement in Houston, where I hope that he finds some refreshment in the recollection that he invested the best years of his life in some children.

Also by

Dr. Alan Loy McGinnis

Books

Confidence (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1987)

The Romance Factor (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1982)

The Friendship Factor (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1979)

Audiocassettes

Confidence: How to Succeed at Being Yourself (Glendale, CA: Valley Counseling Center, 1987. An album of 12 audio talks by Dr. McGinnis based on the book Confidence on envisioning a confident self.)

Motivation without Manipulation: Bringing Out the Best in People (Glendale, CA: Valley Counseling Center, 1985. An album of 12 audio talks by Dr. McGinnis based on the book Bringing Out the Best in People containing additional new information not in print.)

The Romance Factor (Glendale, CA: Valley Counseling Center, 1985. An album of 12 audio talks by Dr. McGinnis based on the book The Romance Factor, a handbook on love and marriage.)

How to Get Closer to the People You Care For (Glendale, CA: Valley Counseling Center, 1981. An album of 12 audio talks by Dr. McGinnis based on the book