Real Influence

For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearance, as though they were realities and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.
-Niccolo Machiavelli

Every Thursday, for the past 16 weeks, I've been meeting with a friend who spent 37 years working for a large consumer goods company based in Cincinnati. He was the plant manager for the largest manufacturing facility in the world located in Lima, OH and has been retired for about 15 years now. No, this isn't a Tuesdays with Morrie kind of thing. Anyway, these "meetings" have been quite the education in leadership and influence. He has a "wise" air about him (including the deep, thoughtful voice and intimidating presence) and is always thinking of ways to work in a story or two that will blow your socks off. Know what I mean?

Today's "lesson" was shear greatness! We met and talked business for a few minutes and then he got this mischievous look and said, "I want to show you something I think you'd like." He grabbed his little pocket-size datebook and retrieved a small, folded up piece of worn paper. The grin got wider as he unfolded. He handed it to me and pointed to a quote he had circled; it read:

You can buy a person's time; you can buy their physical presence at a given place; you can even buy a measured number of their skilled muscular motions per hour. But you cannot buy enthusiasm. You cannot buy initiative. You cannot buy loyalty. You cannot buy the devotion of hearts, minds, or souls. You must earn these. - Clarence Francis

I immediately smiled and said, "Can I go make a copy of this?"

When I returned, he told me he had kept the paper in his datebook for 36 years. He cut it out of a 1972 Reader's Digest and has read the quote every day since. That means he has read it 13,140 times! How about that?

On the copy paper I wrote down a line from one of his stories that day: Influence is a lot more important than where you are on the hierarchy. He said, "I never really wanted to be promoted higher than plant manager. Some of the song and dance leadership books probably say I'm wrong, but I think I'm right." He went on to tell me that he believed that if he was doing his job, every manager that worked for him would be his boss some day. By the time he retired, 36 people who worked for him in the plant went on to be some of the top executives in the company. His conclusion:

I had more influence throughout the company through these 36 individuals that I could ever have by climbing the ladder myself. It made my life a lot easier and I could be heard. My level of influence was exponentially greater because I reproduced myself in other people. I didn't worry about my significance, I worried about the significance of others. That's my legacy.

Influence. Have we missed out on the true meaning?