executive education
DEPT
by Art Markman
REAL INFLUENCE
IS ABOUT
BEHAVIOR
CHANGE
Five Tools for
Lasting Results
Any successful company has to be able to
influence people. Employees need to share a
common vision to work together to promote
the company’s mission. Customers need to
develop routines to engage with the company’s products and services on a regular basis.
When you think about influence, you
probably focus on the messages you send
to others. Are you framing the company’s
mission in the right way? Are you engaging
with consumers in ways that promote the
benefits of your company?
Ask yourself a key question:
When was the last time someone simply
told you something that changed your
behavior?
Chances are that there are very few (if any)
instances in your own life in which your
behavior was changed just by an idea, statement, or argument. You may hear something
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that is energizing, but really changing your
behavior requires more than energy.
Think about your behavior. Each year
around New Years (or perhaps a birthday or
some other important date), you take stock
of your life, and you may even resolve to
make a change in your behavior. Most people who make these resolutions sustain their
new behavior for a few weeks, and then they
return to their old habits, only to reconsider
that resolution again the following year.
Just telling yourself to do something did
not lead to lasting change.
Lasting change comes from a focused
effort that engages your motivational system
to replace an old and undesirable behavior
with a new and desirable one. There are five
sets of tools you can use in this effort.
Optimize Your Goals
Goals are the desired states of the world that