Fall, 2005
Seems like everyone’s looking for the right step-by-step, 1-2-3 system for getting others to do what they want. They want a linear path from here to there. That’s not the way it works.
One speaker I usually enjoy hearing drives me crazy whenever he talks about the creative process. He uses Roger Von Oech’s Explorer, Artist, Judge, Warrior model.ª He applies it to creativity. He also uses it to tell how business meetings ought to work. For him, one moves smoothly, sequentially, from the Explorer phase through the Warrior phase. One must get all of the Explorer stuff done before leaving the Explorer phase and entering the Artist phase though.
To my friend, everything moves in a straight-line progression through a systematic process whether it’s creativity or business communication. For rationally minded people, such a process has great appeal. Those same people are looking for a similar 1-2-3-4 process they can engage to convince people to buy their program, give money to their cause, or change their behavior.
There’s not one.
Instead, influence is more of a “squishy thing” based more upon who you are and how you let others know who you are. Annette Simmons says it well: “In order to learn about influence we must leave the comfort of models, linear sequences, and step-by-step recipes. The magic of influence is less in what we say and more in how we say it and who we are.”º
ªvon Oech, R. (1986). A kick in the seat of the pants. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.
ºSimmons, A. (2001). The story factor: Inspiration, influence, and persuasion through the art of storytelling. Cambridge, MA: Basic Books.
