100 Ways to Motivate Others : How Great Leaders Can Produce Insane Results Without Driving People Crazy

5
most important words: 
I am proud of you!
4
most important words: 
What is your opinion?
3
most important words: 
If you please.
2
most important words: 
Thank you.
1
most important word: 
You.
Here’s another quotation put up there on the office
wall. This one’s from Charles Buxton, the famous lawyer
and member of Parliament in the 1800s: “You will never
‘find’ time for anything, if you want time you must make it.”
And sometimes that powerful leadership item we have
not
found
time to do can be 
made
to fit into the next 10-
minute window.
46. Know What You Want to Grow
Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.
—Jim Rohn, Business Philosopher

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Most managers, especially those who struggle with
“making plan,” place the plan’s numbers down around sixth
on their daily priority list.
Most struggling managers place these things above the
“plan” in their priority hierarchy:
1. Not upsetting other people’s feelings.
2. The commitment to looking extremely busy.
3. Fire-fighting and problem-solving.
4. Explaining and justifying other people’s
performances, both up and down the
ladder.
5. Being liked.
A few years ago we saw the brilliant business consult-
ant Steve Hardison come into a struggling, financially fail-
ing company and turn everything around. He did it by
altering priorities.
The first thing he did was put HUGE whiteboards up
all over the company meeting room to record and reflect
daily sales numbers and activity.
In the company’s past, numbers had been an embar-
rassment. They were whispered about at the end of the
month. If people weren’t hitting good numbers, the man-
agement spent all its time listening to the reasons.
The salespeople became good salespeople, but what
they were learning to sell was their 
excuses
, not their prod-
uct. All management meetings focused on “Circumstances,
Issues, and Situations that Prevent Us from Succeeding.”
The other day, we spoke to an operations manager at a
company that was falling far short of its business projections.
“We’re not making plan,” he said.
“Why not?”
Know What You Want to Grow

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/ 100 Ways to Motivate Others
“The economy. The weather. The war. The way kids
are brought up today. The lack of good candidates for
positions here. Company dysfunction. Industry decline.
Government regulations. Competition moving in. No bud-
get for sales training.”
“Other than that, what’s in your way?”
As we sat in on their company meetings, we observed
that all the management meetings were about those sub-
jects. All their meetings focused on the obstacles to success.
What you focus on grows.
Focus on numbers, and they, too, will grow.
Huge.
47. Soften Your Heart
He is only advancing in life whose heart is getting softer, his blood
warmer, his brain quicker, and his spirit entering into living peace.
—John Ruskin, Art and Social Critic
People who really succeed in leadership and in sales
transform the entire activity away from the concept of
managing and selling (even though they have high re-
spect for that) into the day-to-day concept of building
relationships.
They always think in terms of their relationship with
the other person: How can I make it better? How can I
serve her? How can I contribute to her life today? How
can I show him a demonstration of my commitment? How
can I make her happier? How can I make it easier for
him to access this information?

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There is a continual expansion of the friendly side of
the relationship. A leader knows that communication solves
almost all problems. Avoidance worsens all problems.
No leadership agreement was ever made outside of a
conversation. So have your conversations be vital.
Have a lot of conversations today and make them warm
and comfortable. Have them all lead you to your ultimate
goal.
Master teacher Lance Secretan has written 13 books
on leadership, and sums up his findings this way: “Leader-
ship is not so much about technique and methods as it is
about opening the heart. Leadership is about inspiration—
of oneself and of others. Great leadership is about human
experiences, not processes. Leadership is not a formula
or a program, it is a human activity that comes from the
heart and considers the hearts of others.”
48. Coach Your People
to Complete