Andy

this whole blog wouldn't exist without Andy, because he suggested I read How to Win Friends and Influnce People and seemed like someone I could stand to be more like. I met Andy at work for my uncle putting up Christmas lights in Arizona, and he was also my uncle's nephew, but not my cousin. Andy was good at asking questions about you and being interested in you. more than that, he could be in charge of a job, or showing me how to do something, and could criticize or tell me what to do in ways that couldn't make anyone feel nferior. Very simple techniques: when he told me how to roll balls of lights, he started pointing out what he tended to do wrong, then what some others did wrong, before telling me how it really needed to be done. When I did something well, he would praise me for it. Even if it would have been ideal to be even better or faster. and he rarely gave orders, or just told someone what to do. It was "hey Samuel, do you think you can hand me that?" or he would actually give me some say in the process, or let me figure things out. another example of what someone else said that just reminds me of the way Andy handled people was that even though I might not be as fast at wrapping a tree, I wrapped a better tree than Doug (my uncle who owned the business). this was a compliment, but still let me see that I needed to learn to be faster. there are things to learn from these experiences. these principles he helped me learn are elaborated on and then stated more succinctly in Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. I recommend it.