Who here is old enough to remember Nelson Rockefeller? Here was a man with all of the money in the world, or at least a good chunk of it. When he decided that he wanted to run for President, he had no hesitation about eating chitlins in Harlem, bagels in Brooklyn, and bratwurst in Yorktown. This is how politics works…and all of life is politics. We can all learn a wealth of valuable information about getting along and getting ahead from studying politicians at work and on the campaign trail, and if we had to boil down all that information into one phrase, it might well be: People get ahead by pleasing others.

It’s not a burden either. The amazing thing is that if you do it enough, and if you get into the habit of being ultra friendly and cheerful to those around you—and especially those above you—you get to like it. When you smile, anyone who’s sane near you smiles back. When you’re cheerful and upbeat around others, they smile at you and are also upbeat and cheerful. This feels good. In fact, it feels darned good.

You get into the habit of getting a “fix” of friendliness just by being friendly to those near you. And those people get accustomed to feeling better when they’re near you—and they want to be near you.

Rewards, promotions, money—all of these perks are attracted like a bunch of iron filings to friendly, magnetic, cheerful, likable people. Be one and you’ll notice that you’re soon surrounded by those lovely iron filings.

Only they turn out to be gold.

This is true everywhere. There isn’t one job we know of where you get more mileage out of being unfriendly and aloof than out of being cheerful and upbeat. Even in the toughest, meanest dens of trading on Wall Street, you’re expected to be congenial with your bosses. Do it and you’ll see the magic.