The Leadership Habit

Chapter 3Influences Others

In the context of business, a buzz can mean quiet chatter around the office. However, what if the buzz you hear in the office is not the employees talking but an actual colony of honeybees?

For an entrepreneur in Idaho, honey dripping from the ceiling was the clue that he was sharing his office space with a colony of bees. Although bees and people rarely share their workspace, we do share one common, specific social behavior—communicating.

Honeybees talk by dancing. Researchers have called this honeybee tango the waggle dance. What differentiates the waggle dance from interoffice and crossdepartmental communication is the fact that it works perfectly nearly every time. For the bees, communication is instinctive, unlike humans who need training from infancy to learn how to communicate, and even more training as they advance in their careers to learn how to do it better.

Communication is a two-way process that affects every action, every project, and every outcome. Leaders who understand the impact and complexity are more likely to effectively influence outcomes, at least compared with those who may be indifferent to bettering their communication skills. Influence is the leader's most powerful tool because very little moves forward without it.

Organizational goals are achieved by leaders with the ability to influence and persuade others to do something, believe something, feel something, or learn something necessary for completing objectives. Through ...