Dale Carnegie history

1914 Carnegie hires assistants to help him teach what he came to call the Dale Carnegie Course in Public Speaking and Human Relations.

1935 Carnegie names his enterprise The Carnegie Institute for Effective Speaking and Human Relations.

Carnegie became an instant success with the hugely popular How To Win Friends and Influence People (1936). Like most of his books, it revealed little that was unknown about human psychology but stressed that an individual’s attitude is crucial.

In 1944 Carnegie began licensing certain territories to sponsors who agreed to pay a percentage of revenues to the home office and follow its instructional guidelines.

Other books include How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948), which is primarily a collection of commonsense tricks to prevent stress.

General Motors Corporation began sending employees to Dale Carnegie & Associates in 1949, paying half the tuition.

diedNovember 1, 1955 (aged 66)Forest Hills, New York

Although she remained the major stockholder of the closely held family corporation and had the title of chairwoman, her son-in-law, J. Oliver Crom, became president and chief executive officer of the enterprise in 1978.

In that recession year, however, the enterprise suffered its first drop in enrollment since 1980 (during another recession). Even Chrysler eliminated its policy of paying the tuition (now $895 for the basic 14-session course) for any employee who wanted to take a course.

Executives of Dale Carnegie & Associates said in 1983 that enrollment was at a record high and that they expected before the end of the year to graduate their three millionth student.

1990 The company has worldwide annual enrollment of more than 170,000.

Crom said in 1991 that the company was still profitable.

Stuart Levine succeeded Crom as chief executive officer in 1992, although he still reported to Crom, who remained president.

Levine, in October 1995, said the company's market share had increased eight to nine percent in the last year, on top of a three percent increase the year before, thereby reversing a three-year decline.

Annual revenues, including that of the licensees, came to $187 million in fiscal 1996 (the year ended August 31, 1996). The company reserved for itself operations in ten or more cities, including New York and Washington.

In addition to the basic Dale Carnegie Course, Dale Carnegie Training was, in early 1999, offering six other courses: sales advantage, leadership training for managers, high-impact presentations, leadership advantage, customer relations/employee development, and professional development.

A slowing economy in 2001 threatened Dale Carnegie's bottom line. "It's tough out there," Handal told a gathering at the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce.