“You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Zig Ziglar said that. According to his son, Tom, it is the most famous of all Zig Ziglar quotes. It’s an upbeat and memorable rephrasing of Adam Smith’s key insight into how an economy works.
But, Ziglar isn’t talking about theoretical economics; he wants to sell you an idea.
Before his death in 2012, Ziglar had become one of the more famous motivational speakers, the type of speaker who holds a convention and firms pay for their employees to go hear what he has to say. Naturally enough, he put much of his advice into books offering advice not just to the sales force of large firms, but to people in all walks of life. (For example, Raising Positive Kids in a Negative World, Confessions of a Happy Christian.)
Top Performance: How to Develop Excellence in Yourself and Others has just come out in a new edition, a 2019 reprint of a 2003 reprint of a 1986 book. The new edition adds three new chapters, one by Zig’s son (more about that anon).
The book is very much a pep rally for the harried business executive. As such it fits into a rather large genre of books on that theme. I am obviously not the target audience for books in this genre, but every time I read them, I do get to wondering why this genre is so popular. It is not exactly true to say that when you have read one book in this genre, you have read them all, but there is no doubt that the books are, at their heart, remarkably similar.
The formula: Create pithy aphorisms and cute acronyms, and then tell a bunch of stories with very well defined moral lessons. I suspect part of the reason the books do so well is that if you are a mid-level manager and you need something to fill the time in your monthly or quarterly staff meeting, relating a new motto or acronym gives you a good solid hour of material and maybe someone will remember something from it and work a bit better for the next month or so. That is not a criticism, by the way; if you are a mid-level manager, this is, after all, exactly your job.
On that front, this book fits the formula. We have GEL (Goodfinder, Expect the Best, Loyalty); the Five Ps (Purpose, People, Plan, Process, Profit (side note: this is one of the new chapters)); and the Four As (Awareness, Assumptions, Analysis, Action).
So, what makes this book different? Ziglar explains in what sure seems like an uncharacteristic dig at another writer in the same genre:
It’s true that a pleasing personality helps win friends and influence people. However, when we add character and integrity to that formula, we are able to keep those friends and maintain the influence.
That sounds right; indeed, it would be hard to disagree with it. But, how do you go from a statement like that to an hour long talk, let alone a series of talks plus an entire business enterprise selling talks and seminars? (And make no mistake: Ziglar Enterprises is in the market of selling. One, slightly uncharitable, way in which this particular book could be read is a commercial (e.g., “Am I recommending that your organization get involved with one of these personality profile analyses? The answer is yes. We also have a consulting team that specializes in developing personalized personnel programs for your organization.”))
How does this work? The new chapter by Tom Ziglar provides an interesting example. Tom shares with us “The Ziglar Performance Formula.” It is a math equation!
Attitude x Effort x Skill = Performance
A new employee starts with ones in all three variable on the left hand side. What do you, the manager, do? On day one, make sure the new employee has a really nice time getting to know everyone. That moves Attitude to a 2, and Performance has literally doubled overnight! On day 2, give the new employee small tasks that can be accomplished. Now Effort moves to a 2 and performance doubles again. On day 3, teach the person how to do the job, and you guessed it, skill moves to a 2, performance doubles again and is now at an 8 compared to the 1 it was at on the first day. Presto! You are a managing genius!
But, there is more. Imagine a disgruntled employee. Then attitude is negative. And if attitude is negative, then performance will also be negative. Indeed, the more skilled the employee is, the more damage a bad attitude does. So, Attitude is what matters most.
Now, I read that and instantly think (I can’t help myself): if attitude is negative and effort is also negative, then when you multiply the two negatives together you get a positive, so a highly skilled employee with a really bad attitude engaged in destructive effort would generate really high performance!
Obviously, like I said above, I am not the target audience for this book. In thinking like that, I entirely missed the point Tom was making.
What is the point? You don’t have to take my summary of it. Zig Ziglar tells us:
It is my firm conviction that if you only take one thought or one idea out of Top Performance, it should be […] People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care…about them.
Or, as Zig summarizes his book:
I want to share with you one phrase that I honestly believe is worth the price of this book…Logic will not change an emotion, but action will!
Or, as Zig says in the last chapter
The primary reason for this chapter, which I consider to be the most important one in the book is to encourage you to become a Top Performer in your spiritual, personal, family, and social life as well as in your business career.
How do you do that last bit? Take time for several things: to get started, to grow, to be healthy, to play, to be quiet, and for those you love.
As you look at the things Ziglar is emphasizing, the message of the book is obvious. Character matters. Attitude matters. It makes no difference how skilled or knowledgeable you are; it makes no difference if you are an extrovert or an introvert; if you don’t have a good attitude, you will not be a top performer.
If nothing else this book is an excellent reminder that the one thing you should do today is be a little bit nicer to everyone you meet. As Ziglar notes, that lesson alone is worth the price of the book.
The message, as Ziglar would be quick to note, is not original with him. Jesus said it: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The Apostle Paul said it: If I have not love, I am nothing.
So, take Ziglar up on his challenge today. Smile at a stranger. Say a kind word to everyone you meet; it doesn’t take long to say just one nice thing to the person who answers the phones or cleans the building or stocks the shelves at the store or gives you your coffee. If you do that, not only will you set off on the path to be a top performer, but you’ll also make this world a little bit of a nicer place to live for someone else.
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