Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.
– Margaret Mead
I am continually amazed by this phenomenon. I was in the corporate world for 21 years and constantly searched for new and inventive ways to create the “want to” impulse in the employees I was entrusted to lead. I had modest success with it until I learned about and implemented incentive pay. This aligned the ‘agenda’ of the employee (money) with the agenda of the company (money). The companies at which I was able to implement incentive pay saw productivity skyrocket as the W.I.I.F.M. (What’s In It For Me?) was clear to the employees – if they were more productive, they made more money.
Still, I would frequently hear about employees who, on their own time, engaged in activities that made their efforts at work pale in comparison. Activities like training for a half, or full marathon, skiing or snowboarding for days in a row, taking week long cross country snowmobile trips, etc. Of course, the answer is obvious – “Want To” versus “Have To”! People will exert maximum effort and perform at their absolute best, regardless of compensation…if they want to. Now, if as their employer, I gave these same people a directive like, “I have just decided that a part of your job description here is that you need to train for and run a half marathon”, not only would they rail against it, but I would have probably been sued!
Similarly, Lori and I continue to exert maximum effort during our Daily Magic power walk for one reason only…we WANT TO! Plain and simple! No incentive pay – we get paid no more to achieve our personal best times, we don’t do it because someone said we HAVE TO, we just do it because we want to be our best; to achieve our level 10! And because of this we have regularly improved on our previous personal best times and have crushed our best performance in each of the last two days in a row!!!
What’s the point? The point is this – as Herbalife members, we enjoy the best of both of these worlds! Each of us works on “incentive pay”, that is, each of us earns what we’re worth based on our effort, our client care, our personal development, etc. As the great Jim Rohn said, “If the promise is clear, the price is easy”. The “easy” is the “want to”! We also are fortunate enough to be in a business that we would be involved in, at least at some level, if there were no money to be made. As Herbalife founder Mark Hughes said, “If you are the kind of person who, regardless of the money, would still use our products and still tell people about them, then you are a true Herbalife member”.
Yes! So we are involved in this business with a clear understanding of what is in it for each of us, and a lifestyle that we would be living even if we didn’t get paid for it! It’s ALL want to…and that my friends, is the difference that makes the difference!
So in closing, to reference Margaret Mead’s above quote, we are a (relatively) small group of committed people, and we will change the world….because we “Want To”!!!
