The Sweeney Agency
The Sweeney Agency Speaker News
May 11, 2011

What Really Motivates You to Take Action? 

 

Spring is a great time for change, and to take action. In this edition of our newsletter, we offer some interesting thought-provoking ideas that will help you understand what really motivates you to take action.

 

For more outstanding speakers and great ideas please contact us or visit www.thesweeneyagency.com.

Dr. Mark DeVolder

 Dr. Mark DeVolder

  

Peter Senge wrote, "People don't resist change. They resist being changed."  But what if you are trying to change yourself?

 

I find these three simple questions help immensely and get to the heart of resistance. 

1.      What is the change?

2.      What will be different?

3.      What am I losing?

 

The first question pushes us to define the issue and state it succinctly. Question two helps us to imagine what life will be like when these new changes occur:  new behaviours, actions and outcomes.  Question three deals with our emotions and prepares us to think about loss.

 

I would also suggest asking the questions from a positive vantage point:  What is the change?  What will be different?  What am I gaining? Once we have thought through the positive rational for change and addressed our emotional loss, we are in a position to let go of the current behaviour and accept a new beginning.

  

About Mark:
Dr. Mark DeVolder is a change expert and and an internationally acclaimed motivational keynote speaker. As a top professional speaker, Mark speaks on topics like change, communication, engagement, leadership, and teamwork.
 

Meir StatmanMeir Statman

Confirmation errors -   There is a dog who believes that his barks make UPS trucks go away.  He knows that his belief is true because UPS trucks always leave the driveway after he barks.  We laugh at the silly dog but we are all a little bit like him. The dog commits confirmation errors and so do we.

 

We commit confirmation errors when we search for evidence that confirms our beliefs but fail to search for evidence that disconfirms them and ignore such evidence even when it is plainly visible. As Robert Park, a physicist, said about the continuing belief that high voltage lines cause cancer despite strong evidence against it: "It's often not deliberate fraud...People are awfully good at fooling themselves.  They're so sure they know the answer that they don't want to confuse people with ugly-looking data." 

 

Science offers remedies to the confirmation bias in a structure that forces us to consider all the evidence, confirming and disconfirming alike, and guides us to tests that tell us whether our beliefs are supported by the evidence or rejected by it.  Wise investment organization creates structures that highlight disconfirming evidence as much as they highlight confirming evidence. They divide meetings about new investments ideas into two parts, one where all participants are encouraged to point out the strengths of the new idea and one where all are encouraged to point out its weaknesses.

 

About Meir:  

Recently named as one of the 'Most Influential' People in the U.S. Advisor Community, Meir Statman is the Glenn Klimek Professor of Finance at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University and Visiting Professor at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. He is a keynote speaker on economic trends, most notably behavioral finance. He attempts to understand how investors and managers make financial decisions and how these decisions are reflected in financial markets.  

More about Meir Statman

Eileen McDarghEileen McDargh

 

In a data-driven world, facts and figures are the order of the day in sales calls, employee meetings, board rooms, and political assemblies. Traditionally, when a person is trying to convince someone else to do something they use the logic of benefits and features -long the sacred domain of anyone in sales.

 

And they are missing the boat.

 

What truly moves us as human beings, what prompts us into action, is emotion. Imagination is the conduit of emotion and well- crafted storytelling carries the imagination.

 

Consider this story: You place your hand on top of your head, only to feel the sun radiate from your scalp. Sweat trickles down your back and the once ironed shirt clings to your sides. The pavement roasts your feet even through your thick-soled shoes. You've been walking for a 45 minutes, trying to find the office where you are scheduled to make a sales call. Suddenly, a swoosh of cold air swirls at your side as a young couple comes charging out of an ice cream parlor, licking swirls of raspberry and vanilla perched in a sugar cone.

 

I'll bet you're ready for some ice cream!

 

What engaged you was the reliving of a common experience. I didn't need to itemize the benefits of cooling off or list the features of ice cream and this particular store. You were drawn in by your imagination. Facts tell. Emotion sells. You imagined how you would win over the odds of heat by taking a break for ice cream. We follow leaders who capture us by stories that draw us in and give us purpose for being part of the company. We buy products when we see or read of the human experience with that product. (Remember the Maytag Man?) And we accept the call to action if we hear a compelling story about triumph over odds. Think about the solicitation letters you get from non-profits. They are often stories of individuals who suffered greatly until the non-profit's "product" allowed them to regain a semblance of their life.

 

About Eileen:

Author of several popular books including Work for a Living & Still Be Free to Live, The Resilient Spirit, and Talk Ain't Cheap... It's Priceless - Connecting in a Disconnected World, Eileen McDargh has helped organizations and individuals transform the life of their business and the business of their life through conversations that matter and connections that count. She draws upon practical business know-how, life's experiences and years of consulting to major national and international organizations. 

 

More about Eileen McDargh 
Quick Links

Looking for Ideas?


Looking for speaker ideas to jumpstart the planning process? Take a minute to visit our Idea Generator and receive a set of suggestions customized to your industry, organization, and audience.
 
The Sweeney Agency
www.thesweeneyagency.com
1-866-727-7555
Follow us on Twitter