I was taking a wrestling class as a kid and that was the question the coach posed as he demonstrated a new move.

“You push him first. Then he’ll want to push back and you can use his momentum to your advantage.”

That may have been the first practical lesson I was given in the art of influence. People respond in kind. The actions we get are often reactions to our own actions. The question is: how do we begin?

Mark Miller wrote an ebook recently called Leaders Go First. In it he makes a promise: If you’ll set the example for your team, you’ll be on the path to more influence and impact. Why? Because people always watch the leader. They take their cues from us.

How do you relate with your followers? This could mean your direct reports, your customers, other stakeholders in the organization, your community, your family. What are you teaching them to do based on your behavior? If you trust them, they’ll trust you and each other. If you’re aggressive, you’ll teach them to either push themselves or push back. If you give them responsibility, you’ll teach them to take responsibility. At the end of the day, as people and as leaders, we all reap what we sow.

Dale Carnegie said to always smile, because people will be more likely to smile back. Zig Ziglar said to greet people enthusiastically, because that way you set a positive tone for the engagement. In both cases, you are more likely to build a strong connection, make a sale, make a friend or influence someone else in a positive way.

One of the very first books I ever read as a small child was Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. Like many classic books, it’s a simple story with a timeless lesson. The way I remember it, a cap peddler goes on a journey but gets tired and decides to take a nap against a tree. When he wakes up, he finds that all his caps have been taken by a bunch of rambunctious monkeys sitting in the branches. At first the peddler asks for the hats back, but the monkeys decline. Next he pleads with them. Soon his temper gets the better of him and he puts on an animated display for the monkeys, who simply laugh at him and say “tss, tss, tss.” Finally, in one last show of frustration, the peddler takes off his own cap and hurls it onto the ground. Immediately all the monkeys follow suit. The caps all come raining down and the peddler collects them up and finally continues on his way.

I suppose there could be several different morals to the story. Always secure your caps if you take a nap outdoor. Always do a risk assessment before taking a business trip. Don’t try to reason with monkeys. Take your pick. But from a leadership standpoint, it’s a poignant reminder to lead with the behavior we want instead of waiting until it’s the last resort.

What behavior are you seeking from your followers?

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

So how do you get clarity when it comes to goal-setting?

You’ve probably heard about SMART goals before. If you haven’t, this little model could change your life. If you have, it’ll be a good refresher. Here are the steps to transforming regular, ordinary goals into SMART goals.

Specific

The first step to make any new goal SMART is to make it specific. The more specific the better. “I want to live a healthier lifestyle” is a noble and wonderful goal. But it doesn’t have any backbone until it becomes more specific. Do you want to eat better or exercise more? “I want to become a better leader” is excellent as well. But what do you mean by that? Better planning? Better execution? Better relationship-building? More personal development?

Check out these examples:

Unspecific: I want to buy a new house.

Specific: I want to save enough money to make a down payment on a home in the Pleasant View neighborhood.

Measurable

Whether it’s a professional goal or a personal one, we usually start by wanting “more” or “less” or to become “better” at something. That’s great, but it’s simply a good intention until it’s measurable. How much more? How much better?

In other words, how will you know when you’ve reached your goal? Without a finish line, everyone lets up when difficulty or distractions come. Without a performance target, no one knows how to adequately prepare.

To make a goal measurable, try to add numbers. How much weight do you want to lose? How many widgets do you want to sell? How many dollars do you want to make?

Immeasurable: I want to compete in a race.

Measurable: I want to run a 5K race in 24 minutes.

Attainable

Whereas the first two elements of SMART goal-setting have to do with clarity, the next two have to do with congruence and scale. They depend on the situation. When it comes to attainability, your goal may be as specific and measurable as it can be, but is it even possible? Do you have the resources you need to complete it? Are the factors within your control?

If you’ve just had open heart surgery, setting a goal to run a marathon in 3 1/2 hours by the end of next month is probably not going to be attainable, no matter how specific and measurable it is. Walking up to a half mile at a time by the end of next month is probably much more likely.

For organizational leaders, are these goals attainable for the people they will be assigned to? Selling 100 new cars off the lot this month may be attainable for a seasoned veteran but not for the new representative.

Relevant

Considering relevance can seem like a quick validation check, but it’s enormously important. It’s probably just as well to address this first in the process. But if it doesn’t get addressed at all, there could be a real problem. The key question to ask is: does this goal help us accomplish what is most important?

The best example I can think of for relevance came when I was in the Army. One of my soldiers was overweight and too slow on his running time, so he created a SMART goals to run x amount of miles each week. When we met the next month, he told me he had changed his goal to lift more weights instead of run. Now he was even slower and heavier! There was nothing wrong with lifting weights, but it was the wrong goal at the wrong time.

Organizationally, this speaks to the importance of strategy. Each SMART goal should help accomplish the strategy, not go off in a different direction.

Time-Bound

Time bound is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the end date when your goal will be finished. Every budget has one. Every goal should have one as well.

Not Time-Bound: To earn a promotion.

Time-Bound: To earn a promotion by the end of 2013.

And there you have it: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. It’s not rocket science – anyone can do it. And once you complete your goals, don’t forget to do two things: evaluate and celebrate. Then set some more.

Good luck!

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

What we learned on our trip still influences how I think about leadership. But for now, I’d like to share a few notes about the man who invented the original chicken sandwich.

Who Was Truett Cathy?

Cathy was born in Eatonton, Georgia in 1921, which meant he grew up during the Great Depression. One of seven children, Cathy began selling Coca-Colas at age seven to the local community to contribute to the family’s unstable income. Soon he was also selling magazines and had a newspaper route. After serving with the U.S. Army in World War II, Cathy opened the Dwarf House restaurant with his brother Ben in 1946. After Ben was killed in an airplane accident, Cathy continued to operate the restaurant by himself. After many business challenges and experiments with the boneless chicken breast, Cathy developed the perfect recipe for what became the Chick-fil-A sandwich in the early 1960s. Chick-fil-A now operates restaurants in 39 states (and Washington, D.C.) and earned $4.6 billion in sales in 2012. The company is still family owned.

What Can We Learn from Truett Cathy?

It’s Easier to Succeed Than to Fail. The title of Cathy’s first book in 1989, this lesson seems counter-intuitive until you hear it from Cathy’s prospective. Cathy lists several reasons: money spent to fail must be spent again to succeed, doing a job over a second time is an expensive use of time and a person’s credibility and morale decrease with failure but increase with success.

Be Dedicated. Cathy once worked 36 hours straight in his first restaurant – not because he was a workaholic but because the work needed to be done or else the customers wouldn’t be served. There is some value in hard work for it’s own sake, but the difference for Cathy was dedication to his commitments: the cause and the customers.

Each Customer is Precious. If there’s one thing Cathy hated more than anything else, it was losing a customer. He would bend over backwards to accommodate and build good relationships them. He constantly asked for feedback. The problem with poor service, he said, isn’t that the customer will complain. It’s that they won’t complain – and then won’t come back.

You’ve Got to Give Something to Get Something. Cathy subscribed to the old proverb, “he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed,” or as the late Zig Ziglar put it, “You can have anything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” For Cathy, this meant generous promotions that involved free food and free coupons. Early critics reasoned that Cathy would never make it in business because he gave so much away for free. Instead, customers loved Cathy’s food and service so much they were willing to pay for it – and invite their friends.

Wealth is Only Worth It If You Give It Away. When faced with a life-threatening surgical procedure midway through his career, Cathy acknowledged that his brush with death taught him the insignificance of material things. Even though it may seem ironic for a man worth billions of dollars, Cathy related in his latest book Wealth, Is It Worth It? that you can’t take anything with you after you die. Therefore the only way wealth has any lasting value is if you use it to benefit others.

A Good Name is Worth More Than Anything Else. If you take away wealth, awards, and all the outward signs of success, all you’re left with are your choices, reputation and the quality of your character. A good name is worth more than everything else combined. Furthermore, if you associate yourself with other people of high character, you’ll be able to truly build a winning team.

Not only does Truett Cathy use his restaurant to feed hungry people, but also to sponsor high profile community events, like the Chick-fil-A Leadercast seminar on May 10. To find out how to attend with me, click here.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website or   follow him on Twitter.

Last week’s leadership profile introduced America’s “Master of Motivation,” the late Zig Ziglar. Ziglar realized early on that if you are going to talk about motivation, it’s crucial to know what’s important in the first place. After mulling it over in excruciating detail, Ziglar finally identified eight things that all people want, no matter who they are. They are shared them in his book Success for Dummies and I’d like to share them here with you as well.

What People Want

People want to be happy.

People want to be healthy.

People want to be reasonably prosperous.

People want to be secure.

People want to have friends.

People want to have peace of mind.

People want to have good family relationships.

People want to have hope that the future will be even better.

What You Can Do About It

You’ll notice that none of these things can be purchased with money (like Mastercard used to say). So what can you and I do about it?

As I shared last week, Ziglar’s life motto was this: “You can have anything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” This means there are two specific things we can begin to do immediately.

Identify the people you want to serve. They could be your customers, employees, stakeholders, constituents, members, audience, spouse, children, etc. We rub shoulders with so many different individuals and groups of people each day. We may not be able to give everyone everything they want, but we can do something for someone. It all begins by identifying who we can serve.

Identify one of the eight things on the list you can make easier to attain. This is where leadership comes into play. There is always something you can do to give others what they want, whether it is through a product you sell, policy you set, legislation you pass, publication you write, words you speak, time you spend, or many other ways. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be an enormous stretch. You are probably doing something already that can be used to benefit others.

An Unexpected Benefit

So what does success look like for you? So often we measure success based on how much money we make, how much stuff we’ve accumulated, what title we have, or how many people we’re in charge of. Taking a fresh look at the things everyone wants – what’s intrinsically important – can help us gauge not only how well we’re serving others, but whether or not we are headed in the right direction ourselves. Instead of aiming for the things money can buy, aim for the priceless.

If you’d like to check out more resources available from Zig Ziglar, visit my previous post here.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website or   follow him on Twitter.

Both Zig Ziglar and I will see you at the top!

Who was Zig Ziglar?

Zig Ziglar was born in Alabama in 1926 as the 10th of 12 children and grew up in tiny Yazoo City, Mississippi. He grew up during the Great Depression and following a stint in the military, began his career in sales. His fledgling performance took a dramatic turn for the better following some inspiring words from one of the company’s senior executives. Soon afterward Ziglar was promoted to the executive level and began giving motivational speeches on the side. Dedicated to helping others get everything they want out of life, Ziglar’s speaking career took off soon after that.  He routinely shared the main stage with former presidents, world leaders, business icons, authors, and celebrities while sharing his philosophy of character, attitude, skills, and faith. Ziglar eventually became a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame and wrote over 30 sales and motivational books, 10 of which became best-sellers, including his first book, See You at the Top.

What We Can Learn from Zig?

Because of the way Zig Ziglar connected with his audiences, perhaps the most impactful takeaways are some of the inspirational quotes he shared. Below are some of my favorites which represent the main flavor of everything Ziglar stood for:

“You were designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.”

“Failure is an event. It’s not a person. Yesterday really did end last night. Today is a brand new day, and it’s yours.”

“You were born to win, but in order to become the winner you were born to be, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.”

“Positive thinking won’t let you do anything. But it will let you do everything… better than negative thinking will.”

“If there’s hope in the future, there’s power in the present.”

“Building a better you is the first step in building a better America.”

And my all-time favorite: “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

My friend Dan Black posted a list of additional Ziglar quotes here.

Ziglar Resources

The great thing about Zig Ziglar’s work is that most of his resources continue to be available to us. Here are the ones I’ve found to be the most helpful:

How to Stay Motivated (19 CD set) – I purchased this CD set in 2008 while on a military deployment in the Middle East. I have since listened to it over and over again. This is the resource I recommend the most highly.

How to Be a Winner (CD) – If you want to start with something shorter than a 20 hour series, get started with this one hour audio presentation.

Better Than Good – This is my favorite Zig Ziglar book.

Success for Dummies – The down and dirty guide describing how motivation works and what success looks like.

Confessions of a Grieving Christian – Although I have not read this book (yet), it’s reported the Ziglar family received more letters of thanks for this book, which Ziglar wrote following the death of his daughter Susan, than all the others combined.

Inspirational Tribute Video – This five minute video was created following Ziglar’s passing and includes a special message Ziglar pre-recorded for you!

Ziglar on Facebook – Receive periodic inspiration from Zig Ziglar in your Facebook news feed.

Ziglar.com – Visit Zig Ziglar’s corporate website if you are looking for professional training solutions, a speaker, or to sign up for the Ziglar newsletter. (I was fortunate enough to be featured in the Ziglar Newsletter last October).

How do you help other people get what they want? In my next post, I’ll share the eight things Zig Ziglar identified that ALL people want, no matter who they are.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website or   follow him on Twitter.