The problem is: entrepreneurs manipulate people in situations instead of persuading. I recently spoke with Bob Burg successful author and coauthor with over 1,000,000 books in print. He is coauthor of the bestseller: The Go-Giver. In his new book, Adversaries into Allies: Win People Over Without Manipulation or Coercion, Bob shows us the power of persuasion over manipulation. The key is mastering people skills. Bob uses stories to illustrate that success in life is based on 10 percent technical skills and 90 percent people skills. Bob outlines 5 simple principles of Ultimate Influence – the ability to get the results you want from others while making them feel genuinely good about themselves, the process, and about you. The 5 rules are:
- Control your own emotions: Respond calmly rather than allowing your emotion to get the better of you.
- Understand the clash of belief systems: Understand every individual operates on a different belief system.
- Acknowledge their ego: People want to feel good about themselves.
- Set the proper frame: People react and respond to other people.
- Communicate with Tact and empathy: Saying the right thing at the right time will move people to your side on an issue.
I wish I had read Bobs Burg’s Adversaries into Allies early in my career. I would not have had to learn by trial and error. Entrepreneurs now have the chance to learn from Bob Burg and make an immediate difference in themselves and their business. 7 reasons entrepreneurs need good people skills:
- Having people buy into their vision
- Convincing investors to fund their ideas
- Hiring the right people
- Acquiring customers
- Negotiating credit terms with suppliers
- Promoting their product
- Growing their business
My Favorite: # 3 hiring the right people. If you hire the right people and treat them with respect, your business will grow and exceed your expectations. Going with People skills: In Vetoing a Team Decision Saved My Company, I wrote about hiring America. She had excellent people skills and everyone respected her. With America at the helm, profits grew, and customer satisfaction reached an all-time high. What is your favorite reason an entrepreneur needs good people skills? Why?
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Avoid painful lessons learned. Let me help solve your business problems. A fresh set of eyes can show you a different set of possibilities. Use my experience to save time and money. I have been there and done that. What makes me highly effective is my fresh viewpoint, unencumbered by company politics or culture.
Larry, thank you so much for your kind words about the book. I’m very honored to know that you found the information in the book to be of sufficient value to share with your readers. Very grateful!
Bob, The pleasure is all mine. I received so much from our interview. Thank you for the privilege.
Thx.It is enlightening to read your words of wisdom. Think of the stress in life that can be avoided with your advice.
Jim…Thanks for your kind comments.
Hi Larry,
“Acknowledge their ego” is an important one to me. In the past, I needed people to acknowledge my ego first. As Bob indicates, this dynamic isn’t effective if we want to influence people.
Bob’s insights really make a difference. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Dan,
It works and even makes one feel good. Thanks for your comments.
Thank you, Pastor Dan. Always appreciate your kind words and thoughtful insights!
Good evening, everyone!
At last, my convictions and every day insistance are brought to light by a specialist! I always thought and defended very thoroughly in many conversations that education, training, technical skills, are nothing if you are not equipped with human values and abilities to interact with others in any given company, and therefore cannot help it grow or reach its objectives. Human values are what make employees and managers follow you and adhere to your project. Of course, technical abilities and other competencies are valuable and essential, but not without human values. So thank you so much for this article!
Malik…Thanks for your comments.
Thank you Larry and Bob for sharing such great insight. My favorite reason for good people skills is quite simply – happiness.
Tim…Happiness is most important. Thanks for your comments.
Hello Larry,
Nice post, and fully agree with what you said. I also like Bob Burgs’ books. I didn’t read yet “adversities into allies” (in my list to read now)
In my experience, I am able to say that people always want to contract or hire the right people. I find very interesting that “the right people” for a lot of us is someone like “me”. It is there where the people blocked. They take time to realize as you said, nobody knows all or nobody is good in all domains/aspect of the business. They need complement and sometimes, it means that they need somebody completely different. However, that means frictions and confrontations because they are “different”. At the end they need each other to become better as a team or as an organization.
So I will complement your #3: hire the right people with
#3. 1: Keep in mind that the right people could be somebody completely different to you and it is ok also :)
Thank for sharing,
Omar
Omar…Thanks for your vote for #3 and also sharing with us why. Have a great day!