Hi Everyone,
Rael asked me to guest write his blog this week as, once again, Saturday morning rolled around and he went into his usual panic mode created by his lack of planning and preparation in coming up with a blog topic.
Truth be told, this is not the first time I have pulled a certain body part of his out of the fire. I’m sure he doesn’t want this made public but I have written more than half of his blogs. Those of you who are regular readers will recognize my work – they are the ones that are funny, make sense and contain a powerful, poignant message. The others are his.
I also ghost wrote his book Life Sinks or Soars – the choice is yours which is selling extremely well.
Naturally he is taking all the credit for its success. Me? I get nothing. Not even an extra treat.
But, as you know, we dogs are nothing if not loyal and so I soldier on, uncomplaining, despite the unfairness of it all.
I would like to share with you today a lesson I learned very early on in my life (not that long ago really, I’m only 18 months old).
This is a lesson that has stood me in good stead from the moment I first peed on the carpet, through many other traumatic childhood events (let’s not revisit the pooping in shoe episode).
Before I share the lesson with you I need to paws (get it?) and reflect on why learning and mastering this lesson is so important.
As a leader and as the head of my family, I realized that one of the requisite skills of all great leaders is the ability to cause, or encourage, those around them to WILLINGLY go along with their thoughts, ideas and suggestions.
Of course, if you’re the leader, the boss, the one with the higher rank or bigger office you can mandate that everyone go along with those thoughts, ideas and suggestions and you can use the power of your position to ensure this happens.
But that’s not leadership. The key piece, WILLINGLY, is missing and when we don t do things willingly, when we do them because we have to, we tend to do things grudgingly.
And when we do things grudgingly, we often lack the commitment to include excellence in our performance.
In fact, when we do things grudgingly, we frequently practice what I call (and what Rael has shamelessly stolen and claimed as his own) the Maximum/Minimum Rule.
This is a simple rule that states the maximum effort put forth by a person doing something grudgingly, is the minimum effort required to avoid drawing negative attention to themselves.
Rael tells of the time he asked an employee of a client company how long he had worked for that company and the reply was “ever since they threatened to fire me.”
Which brings me back to todays lesson.
We all tend to willingly go along with the thoughts, ideas and suggestion of those we like. Not all the time but certainly far more often than if we don’t like them.
And that’s why I am such a great leader.
Everyone loves me.
It‘s amazing, we’ll be out somewhere and I’ll run a test. I’ll play with everyone, show everybody lots of love, spend a few moments cuddling with each person, licking their faces and wagging my tail.
This is all a set up to test my theory.
As soon as I can tell I’ve won over their hearts, I poop on the floor.
Nobody gets mad. Most laugh. Someone always springs up to clean up.
Quite often I get a treat.
And the loving continues.
So the trick to getting people to willingly go along with your thoughts, ideas and suggestions is simple.
Be nice.
Try it yourself.
Next time you’re with a group of people be ultra friendly. Cuddle. Lick their faces. Wag your tail.
Then, poop on the floor.
Let me know how it works for you.
And if you get a treat.
Love,
Malka.
Till we read again.
P.S. Last week I mentioned that I will be having book signings on Wednesday, September 8th and Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010 at Self Connection, #125, 4611 Bowness Road NW.
As a brilliant marketing strategist, I neglect to include the times. Both the events have been scheduled from 3pm – 6pm.
I will be conducting a 20- 30 minute presentation on the teaching of my book Life Sinks or Soars – the choice is yours, followed by a group discussion and Q&A session.
There is no charge for this presentation. If you wish to attend, please call Self Connection at (403) 284-1486 to register. Hope to see you there.
CLick here if you would like to order a copy of my book Life Sinks or Soars – the choice is yours
