March 17, 2009
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Children, Influence and Purpose
Tim Roberts
Recently, I found myself absorbed with the notion of influence. I wondered aloud who are the great influencers of our time and wondered further how they got that way. A voice in the room, that of a good friend, shot back, “The #1 salesman in the world is a kid who loves ice cream!” We all laughed yet buried in that answer was delicious truth.
I closed my eyes and began to imagine that kid on a hot summer day. I heard the gaggle of lots of kids playing in a front yard and then the sound of music – ice cream music. As the ice cream truck lumbered through the neighborhood, all of the kids began screaming and shouting the good news of ice cream on the way. Little hands immediately plunged into pockets. Some came up empty and some were prepared. Many little feet scampered to their respective homes. It was here that I could imagine the influencing taking place.
I imagined different strategies being employed. From Chatty Cathy down the way I imagined a full onslaught of promises made “if only, this one time…” Cathy would have to work but eventually the chatter would wear mom and dad down. “This is the last time,” shouted dad to deaf ears already out the door.
Silent Steve took another approach. He needn’t say a thing, his mother knew what he wanted and also knew he wouldn’t ask. “I’ll surprise him,” thought mom. Steve was an early winner.
Ernie used pain as his strategy. “Its murder out there,” he exclaimed, “This must be the hottest day of the year!”
Elaine, always getting what she wanted, checked her “What-Would-Eddie Haskell-Do” manual and arrived at a winner: “Mom, the ice cream truck is in the neighborhood, is there something I can get for you and dad?”
Still, others used urgency. “”Hurry mom, he’s getting away. We’re going to miss him. Fasaaasssstttterrrr! Puh-lease. Keeping the parents off balance was never a bad idea.
In the end, kids always win. At an early age, we learn how to get what we want.
Influence is an art form. Influence has different levels of skills. There are those who simply possess wisdom and are invited in. There are those who work to use it purposively and there are those who do it yet have no idea they’re doing it.
Influence is a perfectly powerful tool and when used with trust and curiosity becomes your best tool. The most important point to influence, however, is that it should only be used in conjunction with the purpose of the person or persons you wish to influence. Influencing for your purpose will backfire.
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