How often do you think about human relations? Not the textbook definition, but rather the words at face value and their most basic meaning.  

Are you conscious of how you are perceived by the people in your orbit?

If you work a professional job that may be how a colleague or an executive accept or even reject your contributions. For entrepreneurs and business owners, a review of how adept you are at human relations manifests as plum clients, more customers, and coveted contracts.

Human relations encompasses interpersonal skills and how your persona affects the people around you, all day, every day.

Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” is on the list of the top 100 non-fiction books of all time, and for good reason. It was one of the first, popular books written about not just how one should present themselves, but how to interact with others in the most successful way.

That the information written in this book which was first...

Lynne dreamed of becoming an account manager and noting the initiative she took at work and her unsolicited but spot-on comments, her boss recommended promotion from a support position to working on creative projects.

Eager to be a valuable team member, Lynne contributed what she felt would be killer ideas for campaigns, only to have them shot down sharply and publicly by the team leader, Meghan, who was having difficulty viewing Lynne now as a peer rather a subordinate.

What can Lynne do to shift the course of her ship? Focus on interpersonal or "people" skills. Lynne changed her tact and spent ample time listening, acknowledging and supporting the ideas and opinions of her more seasoned teammates -- first, before offering her thoughts, second. This allowed team leader, Meghan to evaluate Lynne's comments more objectively, and when Lynne was ready to pitch a new campaign, Meghan was all ears.

All too often, new team members go "all in" before taking a moment to understand...