Tuesday, May 08, 2007

影響和說服力 / The Power of Influence and Persuasion

In our society, we are often bombarded by TV programs that portrait itself as reality; advertisements that tell us to shop till we drop; and opinions that are presented as the truth, and nothing but the truth. At the same time, we learn from our judicial system that some people at the top rung of our society, who once had the power of influence and persuasion, are being prosecuted for fraud and inappropriate behaviours that, surprise surprise, were largely driven by greed.

There is no doubt that one of the most valued competencies of CEOs and senior executives is their ability to exert the power of influence and persuasion. They all have the skills and techniques to rally the troops, secure buy-in from stakeholders, and fuel the fire of our desire to take actions. Ironically, these same people are also the most discipline when it comes to keeping their own emotions in check. Strategies and decisions are often based on cold calculated logic that is devoid of any so-called irrational thinking.

However, what often seems to lack in these modern day executives is what I call the value-and-ethic factor which, if used properly, will complement their leadership competencies and, more importantly, guide their ambitions in the achievement of personal and organizational goals. Here I am not talking about charity or philanthropy, but rather the corporate responsibility of protecting the public good and societal assets. For those who have the power of influence and persuasion, they have a responsibility to maintain public trust by attesting to their strong moral fabric within the legal framework of the society. Public trust is a society asset, without which, our cohesion will weaken.

燃燒別人的情緒, 靠技巧;
冷卻自己的思想, 靠修養;
維護大家的信任, 靠公德。

(Reference/Acknowledgement: The above was written based on some high-profile stories on the front-pages of Canadian newspaper in 2007, as well as a chance review of three articles “我對直銷的一些想法” posted on June 28, 2006 by the authour of “The Bryan Way”. I took the liberty of quoting the first two lines from the said blog and added the third line here to round-out my thoughts.)

6 comments:

xiao zhu said...

Cohersion within a society requires a lot more. Sometimes it's quite dispirited to see the declining of the moral standard in general. People are becoming more and more detached.

San Wen Ji said...

冷卻自己的思想, 靠修養;<-----我正努力往這方向走。

Haricot 微豆 said...

Xiao Zhu,

I believe: Firstly, we must differentiate betwn the causes and the effects and don't get the two mixed up. Secondly, we must focus on curing the causes and not the symptoms.

So, are the declining of moral standard and people becoming more detached the symptoms of a bigger problem? Usually a change in group behviour pattern can be attributed to something. Unbeknown to each other, people collectively seldom just turn "bad" at the same time. What do you think? Perhaps the society is over-stressed 有壓力 and there is no end in sight?

Haricot 微豆 said...

San Wen Ji: 好呀,繼續努力向那方向前進!

xiao zhu said...

I absolutely agree with your view. Most of the time, people would put effort to treat symptoms only. Or sometimes I just wonder they're unaware of the importance of finding out of the root causes of the problems. I don't want to say but the fact is I can't really see an end. Maybe I'm just shortsighted.

Haricot 微豆 said...

Xiao Zhu: No, I don't think you are short-sighted. It will take leadership at the top and support from the citizens to turn things around. Look at the Big Apple (New York, New York). The city used to be number one in mugging, murder and porns. I mean there are still part of it I wouldn't venture into at night, but it is a big improvement compared to what it was before.

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