Emotional Profitability: The new leadership flex

Our cherry-picked take on what a 1936 bestseller still gets right about connection and culture.

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CHERRY ON TOP 🍒 is our monthly newsletter exploring the ins and outs of everything that modern businesses need to truly shine. We dive into topics that live at the intersection of our two companies – ORCHARD STREET, a venture studio + angel fund & DALY, a comms+ agency –  as both help founders get the best ideas out into the world, through outstanding operations, comms, and culture-building.

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Alex & Ally here! Welcome to Cherry-Picked Books — our new Cherry on Top series where we revisit the books that have shaped how we built our businesses: Daly & Orchard Street.

We’re not here to review them, but to pull out the ideas that actually stuck. Think of it as a business CliffsNotes — but make it juicy.

Each edition we’ll break down one book through the lens of what we care about most: bite-sized (🍒😉) tidbits on how modern businesses can make themselves truly shine through standout operations, comms, and culture.

xx A&A 💋💋💋

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Alex: We talk a lot about profitability at Daly — but not just the financial kind. Of equal importance is the profitability of our time, energy, and relationships. Emotional profitability.

As a women-led, intentionally culture-forward agency, we’re constantly thinking about how to create workplaces that feel good: safe, transparent, generous … human!

Which is why it felt fitting (and, honestly, kind of funny) to kick off Cherry-Picked Books with a classic book from way back in 1936 — Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends & Influence People.

Yes, some of the book’s takes on gender dynamics are very dated, and people might think these teachings are performative. But beneath all that, the core ideas — empathy, appreciation, genuine connection — are surprisingly modern. They’re things we practice daily at Daly: in our internal comms, in our client relationships, and in our culture-building.

We revisited this book recently, and below are our five cherry-picked lessons: reinterpreted for today’s founders, managers, and anyone trying to build or lead a business that people actually want to work with.

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Give honest and sincere appreciation.

“Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.”

Carnegie believed appreciation was fuel — a renewable source of motivation and goodwill. At Daly, two of our core values are transparency and intimacy, and both show up significantly in our feedback culture.

We’ve learned there’s a way to give necessary, direct, responsible feedback (no toxic “culture of nice” here!) while still grounding it in care and acknowledgment.

When someone feels truly seen, they can actually better hear and process the feedback they’re being given, because it feels like an investment in their growth, not a punishment.

Become genuinely interested in other people.

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”

This is why our client onboarding looks the way it does: efficient, but deeply interested.

We don’t drag clients through a months-long, BS discovery phase —but we also don’t skim and take shortcuts.

• We read everything.

• We download the app.

• We become users.

• We ask the questions that get to the heart of the work fast.

Our job is to understand our clients’ worlds well enough to help shape them. And you can’t do that without curiosity — real, unforced curiosity. Being “genuinely interested” isn’t a personality trait; it’s a practice.

This is simple: Remember a person’s name!

“Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”

This one is basic, almost embarrassingly so, but it’s a core sign of great leadership.

Knowing someone’s name after you first meet is shorthand for respect. The leaders we admire (and the leaders we strive to be) remember names and ask about the small personal details each time we meet. It’s not performative. It’s relational — and these tiny gestures shape culture:

How are you?
How’s your kid doing?
How did that doctor’s appointment go?

When you show up for people as humans, two things happen: They feel good — and you feel good.

Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.

“Three-fourths of the people you will ever meet are hungering and thirsting for sympathy. Give it to them, and they will love you.

Empathy is one of the most underrated leadership skills, and one of the most essential operational ones.

At Daly, this shows up in our two-way communication between managers and reports: Weekly walk-and-talks, quarterly reviews, annual reflections, and clear documentation in our Ops Manual.

Carnegie understood that seeing someone’s point of view transforms conflict into collaboration. We’ve found the same: When you really understand someone’s perspective, you’re not just resolving tension, you’re building trust.

Make the other person feel important, and do so sincerely.

“The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.”

This is not about ego-stroking. It’s about acknowledging your team and clients when credit is due.

Inside Daly, this looks like naming people’s strengths out loud, celebrating wins quickly, giving credit generously (and publicly!), and treating people like capable adults who want to contribute.

Externally, with clients, it looks like: transparency without condescension, being clear without being cold, and choosing one’s battles!

Creating the right culture internally and the right tone externally leans on the same muscle: Make people feel valued, and they’ll show you their best selves in return.

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The Cherry on Top: Nearly a century later, the lessons in How to Win Friends & Influence People still land because it reminds us that business is a relationship sport.

What do you think a 2026 version of this book would look like? Sound off in the comments ;)