Pete Barlow had a dog-and-pony act and spent his life travelling with circuses and vaudeville shows. Whenever dog showed the slightest improvement, Pete patted and praised him and gave him meat and made a great to do about it. That’s nothing new. Animal trainers have been using that same technique for centuries. Don’t we need to use the same common sense when trying to change people? Why don’t we use meat instead of a whip? Why don’t we use praise instead of condemnation? Let us praise even the slightest improvement. That inspires the other person to keep on improving.
In the book I Ain’t Much, Baby – But I’m All I Got, the psychologist Jess Lair comments: “Praise is like sunlight to the warm human spirit; we cannot flower and grow without it. And yet, while most of us are only too ready to apply to others the cold wind of criticism, we are somehow reluctant to give our fellow the warm sunshine of praise.”
REMEMBER: Abilities wither under criticism; they blossom under encouragement.
PRINCIPLE 27: Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement.
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