This Memory-Linking Technique Can Help You Remember Anyone's Name

bokeh burger via flickr

Imagine Laura wearing a laurel in Brazil ...

The most effective leaders are the ones who make you feel like they're really listening. Most importantly, they always remember names.

So how can you get better at remembering names?

I learned some secrets to remembering names during my first Dale Carnegie training class last week (I signed up for the eight-week course after hearing Warren Buffet say they "changed [his] life in a big way"). Carnegie passed away in 1955, but his self-improvement courses have trained more than eight million people and are represented in more than 80 countries.

According to my lecturer Bill Lawrence, a lawyer by day, the best way to remember things is to think of the things you know about them in a mental picture — the more exaggerated the image, the easier it is to remember.