from Chris Widner: The Art of Influence: Persuading Others Begins With You
I’m a proponent of leadership over management as the primary course of study to improve one’s ability to influence people. Management, however, seems to have reigned as a subject in books since the 1800s. The google Ngram below charts the usage of the keywords “manager,” “leader,” “management”, and “leadership” in books since 1800.
I notice a couple of interesting things about these trends:
The Maxwell Leadership Bible counts the leadership style in the United States since World War II. There has been an evolution of leadership styles over the past sixty years which illustrates the change in the generations and a move to more internalized and inspired followers.
1. Military Commander. Leaders returned from the war emulating the leadership styles that won the war. They implemented a top down dictatorship style influencing from their position as a leader instead of inspiration.
2. Chief Executive Officer. CEOs lead through vision, goals and objectives passed to subordinates to follow. This is a top down leadership style which depends more on execution of a strict plan than
3. Coaches. Recently, leaders have viewed themselves as coaches of a team striving together for a win. In a sports obsessed society this works well because it focuses on the teams strengths and weaknesses forms
4. Poets. Currently more leaders are realizing the power of words and the inspirational value of empowering subordinates. A leader poet knows with a properly formed message subordinates will be empowered to creatively achieve the organizations goals. See also: Motivation 3.0
…all the people hung on [Jesus'] words (Luke 19:48 NIV
A warrior is a person experienced in or capable of engaging in combat or warfare, literally or figuratively. Most leaders are figurative warriors, those who show great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness in everyday challenges. Merely acting like a warrior is insufficient, a warrior leader must become one by consistently walking the path of:
1. Integrity - honest and sincere
2. Impeccability – faultless character
3. Outrageous – excessively bold
4. Personal Power – ability to act
The leader shows that style is not more important than substance, and that creating an impression is not more potent than acting from one’s center – Lao Tzu (500BC)
I grew up in a time when church frequently included special gospel meetings that featured a guest preacher imploring nightly over the course of a week to get right and reap the rewards of heaven or certainly go to hell. We were encouraged to invite our friends and neighbors where every night the message and volume would escalate until a satisfactory number had responded to avoid the punishment of hell. Unfortunately, the fear motivated responses rarely resulted in life-long change, many left the church quickly never to return.
As I read Daniel Pink’s book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us it struck me that we have built a church, family, and work culture based on an inferior motivational model. In a sense, our churches are stuck in a 20th century when such practices were the norm, but fall short with today’s generation. Because we were raised in this environment most of today’s leaders are just modeling what we know.
Pink presents a compelling case for a deeper method of personal, peer, and subordinate motivation. He contends that human motivation has evolved from a basic needs model, to a “carrot and stick” model, and as he proposes, a more stable intrinsic motivation model. In modern vernacular he labels these models in the style of a progressive human operating system upgrade: Motivation 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0.
Go APE for your teamates [bosses, peers, subordinates]:
A – Acknowledgement. Make a big deal out of everything your teammates do good. They love acknowledgement. Show excitement, say their name, acknowledge even when you are the one who rightfully should be acknowledged.
P – Praise. You want to attack your teammates. Don’t just say nice things, attack, make a big deal about it. When you praise your teammates and tell them you love them they will do anything for you.
E – Encouragement. You have to be the first person to recognize someone who is struggling. You must tell them after a bad play [deal, work failure, etc] that they are a great player and you are going to give it to them on the next play to score.
The APE ratio is 6:1. Give someone six APEs and then give one suggestion and they will take it better.
