However, he hated the experience and quickly decided that a life in the theater was not for him.Ĭarnegie later enlisted in the United States Army and served for a little over a year at Camp Upton on Long Island during World War I.

Hartley in a traveling production of Polly of the Circus. By 1911, Carnegie had saved up $500, which was enough to quit his job, move to New York City and try to make it as an actor.Ĭarnegie briefly studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and then landed the leading role of Dr. He then took another sales job for the meatpacking business Armour and Company. Early CareerĪfter graduating from college in 1908, Carnegie took a job as a traveling salesman for the International Correspondence Schools, based out of Alliance, Nebraska. His prowess as a public speaker was such that other students offered to pay him to train them. Carnegie frequently entered intercollegiate public speaking competitions and won the majority of contests in which he participated.

He took advantage of these solitary rides to practice reciting speeches and fine-tuning his oratory style. His family was too poor to afford the $1 a day it cost for room and board, so Carnegie continued to live at home while riding to and from school daily on horseback. Inspired by the speakers he heard at these gatherings, Carnegie decided to join the school debate team, where he became a skillful orator.Īfter graduating from high school in 1906, Carnegie attended the local State Teachers College in Warrensburg. These events brought entertainment to rural communities throughout the country and featured popular speakers, musicians, entertainers and preachers. In high school, Carnegie frequently attended Chautauqua assemblies. As a boy, Carnegie was unskilled in athletics but learned that he could still make friends and earn respect because he had a way with words. When Carnegie was in middle school, his family moved to Warrensburg, Missouri. His parents, James William and Amanda Elizabeth Carnagey, were impoverished farmers. Humble Beginningsįamed author and lecturer Dale Carnegie was born as Dale Carnagey on November 24, 1888, in Maryville, Missouri. His seminal self-help book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, won him a national following and enabled him to expand the Dale Carnegie Institute into countries around the world.

Born into poverty on November 24, 1888, in Maryville, Missouri, Dale Carnegie worked as a traveling salesman before teaching public speaking at a YMCA.

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