Peter Drucker's Way to the Top

by William Cohen

  2. THE INFLUENCE STRATEGY OF INDIRECTION

  Before he became president, Donald Trump became well known for the television show The Apprentice. After a session in the boardroom he would lean forward, gesture dramatically, and tell one of the contestants, “you’re fired”. That’s direction with a capital D.

  Yet Trump was a strong believer in using indirect influence strategy. In his book, The Art of the Deal, Trump tells the story of how the manager of the Grand Hyatt was successful in influencing him through indirect strategy after a predecessor had failed and was discharged when he bluntly tried to influence Trump by direction.

  Trump built the Grand Hyatt and still owned a 50% interest. The former manager objected strongly to the interference of Trump and his wife. Though lacking the power, he tried direction by complaining to the head of the Hyatt Hotels. This got the manager himself fired. His replacement was much more skilled at using the influence strategies. According to Trump, “The new manager did something brilliant. He began to bombard us with trivia. He’d call up several times a week, and he’d say, ‘Donald, we want your approval to change the wallpaper on the fourteenth floor’ or ‘We want to introduce a new menu in one of the restaurants’ or ‘We are thinking of switching to a new laundry service.’ They’d also invite us to all their management meetings. The guy went so far out of his way to solicit our opinions and involve us in the hotel that finally I said, ‘‘Leave me alone, do whatever you want, just don’t bother me.’ What he did was the perfect ploy, because he got what he wanted not by fighting head on against my interference, but by being positive and friendly and solicitous.”7 Some would say, why doesn’t Trump use the indirect strategy more often as president? That, you’ll have to ask President Trump himself. I know that there were occasions when I would have used the indirect approach myself. But then, I wasn’t elected president, and I don’t have all the facts, and most importantly I don’t have the power or the responsibility.

  The writer James Clavell gave us another good example. He unintentionally gave us an example of the use of indirection in his book, Tai-Pan.8 Tai-Pan was about the founder and head of a great British Trading Company in 19th-century China. The head of the company was known as the “Tai-Pan”. At the end of the book, the Tai-Pan is killed in a typhoon. His 18-year-old son, with little experience or training, is suddenly thrust into major responsibilities as the president’s successor and the company’s head. At first, he is frozen into silence. He doesn’t know what to say or do. His subordinates are standing around waiting for him to take charge and give his first orders as the new Tai-Pan. There is a pause when none of the new Tai-Pan’s senior managers say a word. Suddenly, the former Tai-Pan’s right-hand man, who is Chinese, turns to the new head of the firm and in a pleading voice asks: “Tai-Pan, Tai-Pan, what should we do?” This man had years of experience and could have instantly given the orders that needed to be given and usurped the leadership from the teenage Tai-Pan. However, his deferring to the 18-year-old shocked the young man into the realization that he was now in charge and responsible whether he was ready or not. He had to take over the organization and assert his authority, or he would never be able to do so. And he did. This was a perfect example of influencing a superior and doing so using the indirection influence strategy.

  3. THE INFLUENCE STRATEGY OF REDIRECTION

  I once heard a story about a woman who was poised a hundred feet above the water outside the safety bar of a bridge, threatening to commit suicide. A policeman a few feet away on the bridge talked to the woman and tried to persuade her to climb back to safety from her perch. He first tried to convince her that regardless of her problems, life was always worth living. That didn’t work. He tried to order her down: the direction strategy. That didn’t work either. He tried negotiation and all the techniques taught by law enforcement and psychologists in suicide situations of this type. Nothing worked. The woman remained in place, getting ready to jump to her death. Finally, in desperation, the police officer shouted: “Lady, you can jump if you want, but I sure wouldn’t want to jump into that dirty water. It’s full of sewage and garbage and smells awful.” She hesitated, and after a few minutes consideration returned to relative safety where the police officer was able to pull her to safety. That police officer had used the redirection strategy in his successful rescue. He had redirected her thoughts from suicide to the filthy water she would be jumping into which was more important to her than her life at that time.

  4. THE INFLUENCE STRATEGY OF REPUDIATION

  In using the repudiation strategy, you persuade someone to do something by disclaiming your own ability or power to do it. For example, an analyst goes to his supervisor and asks for help in doing some problems. “Gee, I’d like to help,” his supervisor says, “but I haven’t worked on this kind of analysis in quite a long time. How would you approach it? Why don’t you begin. Maybe I’ll remember a little.” So, the analyst begins the work. Whenever he gets stuck, his leader gets him going again. The supervisor uses the influence tool of repudiation to get the analyst to learn to do the job and to do the job at the same time.

  The repudiation strategy can also be used by subordinates to influence their bosses, or by managers to influence other managers. “Boss, I have a problem and I wonder how you would handle it?” The boss is flattered to be asked. Many bosses are more than willing to help. However, you must be careful to understand your boss when using this strategy. As Drucker demonstrated in the problem of the two vice presidents, some bosses prefer that you work things out on your own and you certainly don’t want to overuse this strategy.

  5. THE INFLUENCE STRATEGY OF ENLISTMENT

  All you need to do is to ask for help. That’s the basis and beauty of the enlistment influence strategy. This strategy is especially effective in situations where you don’t have the power, or may have the power, but may not want to use it. Surprisingly, just asking works very well in more situations than you might think. Psychologist Dr Robert Cialdini looked at the use of motivation in influencing. In studying the literature on persuasion, he found that frequently the request need not even be phrased logically. It may depend primarily on how the request is made, and the words used rather than the logic of the request itself. In one study that Cialdini looked at, Harvard social psychologist Ellen Langer discovered that the number of people who would allow someone to get ahead of them in a line to use the office copier depended primarily on a single word even if the reason given for the request made no sense at all. If the requestor said: “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I am in a rush?” the positive response was 94%. That’s pretty good. However, if the request was: “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?” with no reason given, the positive response rate dropped to 60%. That’s a significant drop, and before we go any further, it’s pretty good evidence that we should always give a reason why we want something done, time and circumstances permitting.

  Now I know what I am going to tell you next will sound crazy, but if the requestor phrased the request as, “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?” you might think that the acceptance of the request would remain pretty low, if the recipient didn’t burst out laughing. After all, why else would someone ask to use the Xerox machine if not to make copies? That’s just plain ridiculous. Yet, the positive response was 93% – almost identical as if a reasonable reason were given!9 One interpretation of these results is that this was due to use of the single word ‘because’. But it may also be since the word ‘because’ alerted the recipient that an explanation was forthcoming, even if the explanation itself was nonsense. The point is that your asking may be more powerful than you think, if you give a reason for what you want done. However, allowing someone to get ahead in line is not asking for much of a sacrifice. I’m sure that you can think of a better reason for your request. What about challenging work?

  CAN YOU MAKE CHALLENGING WORK FUN?

  People
accept difficult and challenging work voluntarily, no matter how difficult or dangerous, all the time. Why? Because they have decided that what they are doing is not work, but fun. Why else do people choose to jump off bridges attached to a bungee line? Or parachute out of a plane, or play a sport in which injuries are frequent, or climb mountains? Playing high school or college football is difficult and challenging. Yes, a few go on to play professionally, but that’s a tiny percentage. And of those who do participate, players are injured all the time. Some 3,800,000 concussions were reported in 2012 in the USA alone, with 47% occurring in high school football.10 Yet there are many more that volunteer to do this than the players needed to play.

  Are people crazy or what? Not at all. Even the most challenging, difficult, and dirty work will not only be gladly accepted, but sought after, if that work is considered fun or desirable.

  You may not even need to emphasize the critical need. What you need to do is convince others that it would be fun or will gain respect from their peers. This can be an essential element in using the enlistment strategy.

  6. THE INFLUENCE STRATEGY OF PERSUASION

  Persuasion differs from enlistment in one important way. With enlistment, all you need do is to ask. Of course, asking in a dramatic or creative way with the word ‘because’ helps. However, with persuasion, the emphasis isn’t on just asking. You must go one step further and convince someone to do something, and that requires reasons to be explained with a stronger convincing rationale as to why they should do it. Everyone wants to know why you want him or her to take a certain action. This is true whether you have authority over them or not. My personal feeling is that this is something that you owe to those you might want to do what you say. And giving reasons has an important fringe benefit. When the situation changes, and you aren’t available to give new instructions, this person knows why you are doing what you are trying to do. He or she can alter their actions based on that information. You will find that you will be much more successful at influencing someone to complete the act you want than would otherwise be the case.

  7. THE INFLUENCE STRATEGY OF NEGOTIATION

  Another important influence strategy is negotiation. Negotiation means that you influence by conferring with others to arrive at a settlement which you (and those you want to influence) find acceptable. It may involve compromise and usually involves exchanging something that the other person wants or wants done for what you want done. Negotiation may be required under certain circumstances. Does the task offer little or no perceived benefit to the person or persons that you want to influence? Do you and those you want to do something have about equal power? Can both sides help or hurt each other almost equally? If any of these conditions exist, you may find the negotiation influence strategy extremely useful.

  Let’s look at an example of a university, where the addition of new courses must be voted upon by all departments. New courses may be perceived as attracting students from one department to another. Thus, there may be no reason for one department to vote for another department’s proposal if they are going to lose students. If you want to get the university to offer a new course, part of your work may involve using a negotiation strategy. How can you do this? You could offer to support another department’s proposal for a new course. Or you could offer something else that the other department wants in exchange for its support for your proposal while showing (if true) that you won’t be taking their students.

  George Washington gave us a successful demonstration of the negotiation strategy that was important in winning American independence.

  By the summer of 1781, during the American War of Independence, the British strength was divided into two strongholds: New York and Chesapeake Bay. The French allies had a contingent of the French Army with General Washington under General Jean Rochambeau. However, British forces were stronger than the combined American– French force. But together, the combined allied force was stronger than either British force if faced separately. If the two British forces could be cut off from each other they could be defeated individually.

  The French had a strong fleet under the command of Admiral Francois de Grasse. However, the hurricane season started in late summer and grew progressively worse in the autumn. De Grasse did not want to get involved in a campaign in the north for fear of having his fleet destroyed at sea by these storms.

  Washington’s original plan called for defeating the British in the Chesapeake Bay area, and then moving south for an attack on Charleston or the British base at Wilmington. He got De Grasse to support him by the negotiating strategy. Washington let Admiral De Grasse know that: “If you sail north and keep command of the sea during my operations against the Chesapeake Bay force, you can return to the West Indies immediately thereafter.” In other words, Washington let De Grasse off the hook for supporting other allied operations earlier that year in return for his immediate services against the British Chesapeake Bay forces. De Grasse answered that he would make his fleet available until mid-October.

  On 30 August, De Grasse’s fleet arrived off Yorktown, Virginia. He also brought reinforcements and shipborne artillery support. More importantly, he isolated the British land forces under Lord Cornwallis from the one in the New York area. Six weeks later Cornwallis surrendered. The Battle of Yorktown is known as the decisive battle of the War of Independence. Based on the battle’s results, the British opened peace negotiations the following spring.11

  8. THE INFLUENCE STRATEGY OF INVOLVEMENT

  If you can get others involved in what you want done, they are more likely to adopt your goals as theirs and become committed to their attainment. Because of this, involvement is a very powerful influence strategy, and usually can be combined easily with one or more of the other strategies we’ve discussed. Drucker discovered that this is one of the secret major elements in how the Japanese manage. The Japanese call this technique ringi. What Japanese leaders do is to take extraordinary pains to ensure that leaders and workers at all levels contribute to a proposed action. No action is taken until everyone has had the opportunity to study and comment on the proposal. Decisions which take days in the US may take months in Japan and so executives from other countries who do business with the Japanese sometimes get extremely frustrated with ringi. However, once the decision is made, the entire Japanese organization is involved and committed to a successful outcome. The Japanese then implement their decision amazingly quickly and effectively. In comparison, decisions made in US organizations are sometimes taken quickly, but are sometimes time-consuming to implement. The reason is that many members in the US organization are not involved and may not be fully committed to the action or goal.

  THE IMPORTANCE OF OWNERSHIP OF IDEAS, STRATEGIES, AND GOALS

  Why is involvement so important? One important dimension is ownership. We work much harder for things that are our own. That’s human nature. As a consequence of this, ideas from someone else do not become our own instantaneously. Dr Chester Karrass has devoted much of his life to the science of negotiation and has written several important books on this subject.

  In his seminars, Karrass cautions us to allow enough time when introducing our latest ideas. “Introducing ideas,” he says, “is like introducing new friends. It takes time to know and understand people before someone else’s friends become our friends as well. Therefore, when you introduce new ideas to someone else, you must give them sufficient time to get to know them before you can expect agreement.” So, involving people succeeds as an influence strategy because it gives those you need ownership. But we must allow sufficient time for this ownership to take place.

  Someone said that there are a lot of ways to skin a cat. I believe they were speaking rhetorically. In any case there are a lot of strategies and combinations thereof to influence others on your way to the top. Your job is to pick the right one according to the situation and the people involved including your own relative power with others and other variables which will define what you can and cannot do. That’
s what Drucker did in his career.

  1. Drucker, Peter F. “Managing Oneself”. On Managing Yourself (Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2010), 26.

  2. Von Schell, Adolf. Battlefield Leadership (Quantico, VA: The Marine Corps Association, 1982), 15, my retelling.

  3. Drucker, Peter F. Management Challenges for the 21st Century (New York: Harper Business, 1999), 184.

  4. Attributed. Included in “Quotes on Leadership”. LeadershipNow.com, https://bit.ly/2vqpE7O, accessed 8 August 2018.

  5. “Palestinians Call ‘Days of Rage’ over US Jerusalem Move”. Al Jazeera News, 6 December 2017. https://bit.ly/2OVD5or.

  6. “Amazing Israeli Contributions to the World”. United with Israel, 12 May 2009, https://bit.ly/2MbLp4N, accessed 27 July 2018.

  7. Trump, Donald and Tony Schwartz. Trump: The Art of the Deal (New York: Warner Books, 1987), 140.

  8. Clavell, James. Tai-Pan: A Novel of Hong Kong (New York: Atheneum, 1966).

  9. Cialdini, Robert B. The Psychology of Influence, rev. ed. (New York: William Morrow, 1993), 4.

  10. “Sports Concussion Statistics”. Head Case, https://bit.ly/1uaKnFY, accessed 26 July 2018.

  11. Selig, Robert A. “Francois Joseph Paul Compte de Grasse, the Battle of the Virginia Capes, and the American Victory at Yorktown”. AmericanRevolution.org, https://bit.ly/2OU6oaM, accessed 28 July 2018.

  CHAPTER 18

  HOW TO DEAL WITH RISK

  People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.