Several years ago my wife accompanied me to France when I spoke to a group of leaders representing various organizations from all over Europe. Anne had always wanted to visit Portugal, and since the cost of the additional stop was minimal, it seemed perfect. Our travel agent booked us in a beautiful hotel on the Lisbon coast. When the hotel confirmation arrived a few days before our departure, I was shocked when I realized how much those nights would cost in an ocean view room.
Anne anticipated my reaction and assured me that we would save money because she had prepared an old suitcase with enough food for the three day stay. Dried cereals with unrefrigerated milk, nuts and canned tuna on saltine were terrible, especially in light of the hotel's fabulous dining room overlooking the blue Atlantic that we spent every day. The tables laden with food, flowers and ice swans reminded me of a sumptuous film set and further worsened our suitcase meals.
The night before we left I went to the hotel reception to check the bill and as I turned to leave, the clerk asked me if I had booked breakfast for the following morning. When I expressed my confusion, he explained that all our breakfasts and dinners were included in the hotel price! The implications of his words suffocated me like dried bran flakes and hot milk I had at breakfast that morning. For three days, we ate the most marginal food imaginable from an old suitcase when we could have enjoyed our meals already paid for gourmet meals in the hotel's splendid dining room!
Our experience captures the plight of many organizations that constantly eat from the suitcase of mediocre performance, when, in reality, a lot of commitment, productivity and exceptional results lie unused in the hearts and minds of their employees.
Often leaders simply don't inspire members of their organization or team to take full advantage of their skills and willingness to take care of customers and the overall success of the organization. How does a leader influence members of his or her organization to be emotionally invested in this way?
I often ask groups " How many of you want to be a disproportionate person of influence? "Usually I get a 90 to 100% yes answer to that question. We will probably answer yes as well. Being a person of disproportionate influence is the essence of leadership. Even when we don't have a formal leadership title, we can still try to create a significant and lasting impact on others.
The essence of having a disproportionate influence is to encourage an individual's desire and intrinsic readiness to bring passion and ability into every effort. While there are a number of important elements to influence this exceptional performance, at the epicenter there is trust, the first principle of disproportionate influence.
How we inspire trust, let me suggest three ways.
First, we must keep our commitments-do what we say we will do. While simple in one sense, it is quite profound in another. Our credibility, a basis for trust, comes from this very important axiom. For example, promptly answering calls and emails, meeting deadlines and following what we said would be trusting. We know individuals who do not keep their commitments and the consequent loss of trust usually decreases their influence on us. When a boss whom we believe is unreliable asks us to do something, we can comply, but often we don't carry our full commitment to the task.
Second, we must make our thinking visible. Much of the work is done on the basis of influence, not power or position. If we want to influence someone, we need to clarify what we are trying to do, why, how and when. This type of transparent communication generates trust in others, particularly in the turbulence that most organizations are experiencing today.
Third, we must follow the same rules that we expect others to observe. A CEO I know always flies in first class, but insists on all members of his fly coach organization. Although it is his prerogative, it does not adapt well to others. His work according to a different set of rules feeds mistrust on even more important issues in the company. His credibility is compromised.
I firmly believe that no one is going to be mediocre, most want to be exceptional. I never met anyone who got out of bed in the morning and said, "I wonder how can I really be average today?" Being a person of disproportionate influence basically means that we encourage the best in others, we urge them to the greatness that often lies unused in each of us.
How do we start? Let's start by looking for ways to increase our reliability and credibility among those we want to influence. I will talk about other crucial ways to become a disproportionate person in future newsletters, but this vital principle is the cornerstone. Today we can lay the foundations.
