Leader thinks like Leader

REMIND YOURSELF ONCE AGAIN that you are not pulled to high levels of success. Rather, you are lifted there by those working beside and below you. 

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Achieving high-level success requires the support and the cooperation of others. And gaining this support and cooperation of others requires leadership ability. Success and the ability to lead others-that is, getting them to do things they wouldn't do if they were not led-go hand in hand. The success-producing principles explained in the previous chapters are valuable equipment in helping you develop your leadership capacity. At this point we want to master four special leadership rules or principles that can cause· others ro do things for us in the executive suite, in business, in social clubs, in the home, anywhere we fmd people.

These four leadership rules or principles are:

1. Trade minds with the people you want to influence.

2. Think: What is the human way to handle this?

3. Think progress, believe in progress, push for progress.

4. Take time out to confer with yourself and develop your supreme thinking power. Practicing these rules produces results. Putting them to use in everyday situations takes the mystery out of that gold-plated word, leadership:

LEADERSHIP RULE NUMBER 1: TRADE MINDS

WITH THE PEOPLE YOU WANT TO INFLUENCE.

Trading minds with the people you want to influence is a magic way to get others-friends, associates. customers, employees-to act the way you want them to act. Study these two case histories and see why.

Ted B. worked as a television copywriter and director for a large advertising agency. When the agency obtained a new account, a children's shoe manufacturer, Ted was assigned responsibility for developing several TV commercials. A month or so after the campaign had been launched, it became clear that the advertising was doing little or nothing to increase "product movement" in retail outlets. Attention was focused on the TV commercials, because in most cities only television advertising was used. Through research of television viewers, they found that about 4 percent of the people thought it was simply a great commercial, "one of the best," these 4 percent said. The remaining 96 percent were either indifferent to the commercials or. in plain language, thought they "smelled." Hundreds of comments like these were volunteered: "It's wacky. The rhythm sounds like a New Orleans band at 3 A.M." "My kids like to watch most TV commercials, but when that shoe thing comes on they go to the bathroom or refrigerator." "I think it's too uppity up."  "Seems to me someone's trying to be too clever." Something especially interesting turned up when all the interviews were pnt together and analyzed. The 4 percent who liked the commercial were people pretty much like Ted in terms of income, education, sophistication, and interests. The remaining 96 percent were definitely in a different socioeconomic class. Ted's commercials, which cost a lot of money, flopped because Ted thought only of his own interests. He had prepared the commercials thinking of the way he buys shoes, not the way the great majority buys shoes. He developed commercials that pleased him personally, not commercials that pleased the great bulk of the people. The results would have been much different had Ted projected himself into the minds of the masses of ordinary people and asked himself two questions: "If I were a parent, what kind of a commercial would make me want to buy those shoes?" "If I were a child, what kind of a commercial would make me go tell my Morn or Dad that I want those shoes?"

Why fail in retailing

Joan is an intelligent, well-educated, attractive girl of twenty four. Fresh from college, Joan got a job as an assistant buyer in ready-to-wear goods at a low-to-medium-priced department store. She came

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highly recommended. "Joan has ambition and enthusiasm," one letter said. "She is certain to succeed

in a big way." But Joan did not succeed in a "big way." Joan lasted only eight months and then quit retailing for other work. I knew her buyer well, and one day I asked him what happened. 'Joan is a fine girl, and she has many qualities," he said. "But she had one major limitation." "What was that?" I asked. "Well, Joan was forever buying merchandise that she liked but most of our customers didn't. She selected styles, colors, materials, and prices she liked without putting herself in the shoes of the people who shop here. When I'd suggest to her that maybe a certain line wasn't right for us, she'd say, 'Oh, they'll

love this. I do. I think this will move fast.' 'Joan had been brought up in a well-to-do home. She had been educated to want quality. Price was not important to her. Joan just couldn't see clothing through the eyes of low-to-middle income people. So the merchandise she bought just wasn't suitable." The point is this: To get others to d~ .what you want them to do, you must see things through their eyes. When you trade minds, the secret of how to influence other people effectively shows up. A very successful salesman friend told me he spends a lot of time anticipating how prospects will react to his presentation before he gives it. Trading minds with the audience helps the speaker design a more interesting, harder-hitting talk. Trading minds with employees helps the supervisor provide more effective, better received instructions. A young credit executive explained to me how this technique worked for him. "When I was brought into 'this store [a medium-sized clothing store J as assistant credit manager, I was assigned the job of handling all collection correspondence. The collection letters the store had been using greatly disappointed me. They were strong, insulting, and threatening. I read them and thought, 'Brother, I'd be mad as hell if somebody sent me letters like these. I never would pay.' So I just got to work and started writing the kind of letter that would move me to pay an overdue bill if I received it. It worked. By putting myself in the shoes of the overdue customer, so to. speak, collections climbed to a record high." Numerous political candidates lose elections because they fail to look at themselves through the minds of the typical voters. One political candidate for a national office, apparently fully as qualified as his opponent, lost by a tremendous margin for one single reason. He used a vocabulary that only a small percentage of the voters could understand. His opponent, on the other hand, thought in terms of the voters' interests. When he talked to farmers, he used their language.

When he spoke to factory workers, he used words they were easily familiar with. When he spoke on TV; he addressed himself to Mr. Typical Voter, not to Dr. College Professor. Keep this question in mind: 'What would I think of this if I exchanged places with the other person?" It paves the way to more successful action.

Thinking of the interests of the people we want to influence  ie is an excellent thought rule in every situation. A few years ago a small electronics manufacturer developed a fuse that would never blowout. The manufacturer priced the product to sell far $1.25 and then retained an advertising agency to promote it. The account executive placed in charge of the advertising immediately became intensely enthusiastic. His plan was a blanket the country with mass advertising on TV, radio, and newspapers. "This is it," he said. "We'll sell ten million the first year." His advisers tried to caution him, explaining that fuses are not a popular item, they have no romantic appeal, and people want to get by as cheaply as possible when they buy fuses. "Why not,". the advisors said, "use selected magazines and sell it to the ,high income levels?" They were overruled, and the mass campaign was under way, lonely to be called off in six weeks because of "disappointing results." The trouble was this: the advertising executive looked at the high-priced fuses with his eyes, the eyes of a high-income person. He failed to see the product through the eyes of the mass market income levels. Had he put himself in their position, he would have seen the wisdom of directing the promotion toward the upper income groups and the account would have been saved. Develop your power to trade minds with the people you want to influence. The exercises below will help.