Who Inspires You And How Do You Inspire Others?

Lessons we can learn from Eisenhower ...

POSTED BY JACKY SHERMAN ON 01/11/2017 @ 8:00AM

Currently, the President of the United States occupies more of our time than most of us would like and most often for the wrong reasons. No, I'm not going on a Trump rant ...

Who inspires you? Eisenhower certainly inspired a lot of people!

image sourced from wikipedia (creative commons license)

But I do want to refer to a President whose leadership philosophy was more conducive to the way I think. Eisenhower was, by no means, a soft touch; after all, as commander of the allied forces during World War II, he led the invasion on D-Day (Operation Overlord) and took us to victory in Europe.

Two quotes sum up his philosophy. Firstly, "You don't lead people by beating them over the head; that's assault, not leadership". Related to this (and my favourite) is, "Leadership is the art of getting other people to do what you want because they want to do it". This second quotation is modified to eliminate the sexism as he was a man of his times.

"But how is that appropriate to
referral marketing?"

Your referral sources are volunteers and they have chosen to give up some of their time to help you generate business. Unlike in employment, where your co-workers are chosen for you, your network of contacts is not obliged to help you at all.

They will only do what you want (i.e introduce you) if they want to do it. They will want to help you if they are inspired by what you are trying to achieve. If they understand and can relate to the real reasons you get up every day and do what you do.

At Asentiv®, we call this your Emotionally Charged Connection® with your business. It's what gives you that little jolt of pleasure when you succeed. And the root of that pleasure comes from a moment in your past when you first experienced it.

I'll use my own example:

My family came to live in England to live when I was a teenager and I was spectacularly unsuccessful in breaking into established friendship groups at school.

I was in unfamiliar territory, surrounded by strangers and completely lost in how to fit in. In fact, I spent a whole year at the school where nobody in my class spoke to me. So I was incredibly lonely.

Then I joined the Red Cross and particularly, a group that did the First Aid at major sporting events around the county. I found it really easy to make friends when I joined a community that shared my sense of purpose and ideals.

Many years later, when I set up my own business and was introduced to Asentiv® as a client, it transformed the results I got from networking. However, I joined the company because the people I met inspired me.

Their beliefs matched my own experiences, both personal and business values and my sense of purpose.

At Asentiv®, we believe that business owners are more successful for themselves, their teams, their customers and the society they operate in when they collaborate together as a community with a shared sense of purpose and ideals.

I now work every day with a wide range of people who share that belief and they refer me to clients who then build their businesses by inspiring others with their own Emotionally Charged Connection®.

Does it work? Well, remember a few paragraphs ago I talked about that little jolt of pleasure that makes you pitch up each day? Here's a testimonial from one of my clients that felt more like a massive power surge when I read it!

''While the financial gains from the course speak for themselves, I've also formed a stronger connection with my business than I ever had before. Now I'm driven by the underlying values Jacky helped me to identify, which results in a far better proposition for my clients''

Nishi Patel - Northants Accounting

So my tip today is to get in touch with the real emotional connection you have with your business and learn how to articulate it to others. It will draw like-minded people into your circle all motivated to want to help you and you will be motivated to help them.

As a result, you will be more successful for yourself, your team, your clients and the society you operate in and achieve your true purpose in business and life.

"Now that's worth getting up for each morning, isn't it?"

Want to learn how? Do book onto to this FREE seminar on 21st November in Milton Keynes. Andy Mee and I will walk you through some great information which will help you inspire others to do what you want because they want to.

Until next time ...

JACKY SHERMAN