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Ways to Motivate Others
Managers blame their own people for poor numbers,
when it’s really the manager’s responsibility. CEOs blame
their managers, when it’s really the CEO. They call con-
sultants in a panic,
talk about the numbers, and then ask,
“Do you recommend we implement FISH?”
“FISH” is a current training fad that has a great deal
of value in inspiring employees and focusing on the cus-
tomer. But we don’t deliver FISH in this book. We deliver
an observation about fish. “A fish rots from the head
down,” we remind the manager
whose people are not per-
forming. And that’s our version of FISH.
So, the first step in motivating others is for you, if
you’re the leader wanting the motivation, to realize that
“if there’s a problem, I’m the problem.” Once you truly
get that, then you can use these 100 ways.
The mastery of a few key paradoxes is vital. They are
the paradoxes that have allowed
our coaching and con-
sulting to break through the mediocrity and inspire suc-
cess where there was no success before.
Paradoxes such as:
1. To get more done, slow down.
2. To get your point across, stop talking.
3. To hit your numbers faster, take them less
seriously and make a game of it.
4. To
really lead people, go ahead of them.
These are a few of the paradoxes that open leadership
up into a spiral of success you have never imagined.
Enjoy this book as much as we enjoyed writing it for
you. We hope you’ll find, as we have, that leadership can
be fun if you break it into 100 easy pieces.
Introduction
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15
Well, even that’s not completely true. There are actu-
ally 101 Ways in this newly
revised paperback version of
the original. We wanted to add in the best motivational
tool of all: inspiration. How you can inspire your people
by letting them watch you grow. Letting them see a “be-
fore” and “after” picture of you as you master more and
more skills of excellent leadership. You might even skip
to the last “way” and read it first,
then go on to read the
rest of the book, because by reading the book itself you’ll
be demonstrating Way 101, a bonus for this new edition.