Page 117 - The Power to Change Anything

106 INFLUENCER

improve things like psychiatric treatment adherence and exer-
cise commitments. And the additional good news is that the
power of motivational interviewing isn’t limited to therapeutic
settings. Smart leaders accomplish the same results when they
replace dictates with dialogue.
For example, Ralph Heath, now president of Lockheed
Martin Aeronautics, was tasked by the company to move the
fifth generation F-22 fighter jet from drawing board to produc-
tion floor in 18 months. To do so, he had to engage 4,500 engi-
neers and technicians who had developed a decade-long
culture of invention. Heath had to convince them that results
mattered more than ideas and that engineering needed to bow
to production. Tough sell.
So Heath didn’t sell; he listened. He spent weeks inter-
viewing employees at all levels. He tried to understand their
needs, frustrations, and aspirations. When he finally began issu-
ing orders, he framed them in ways that honored the needs,
concerns, and goals of his colleagues. His influence didn’t
result from merely confronting problems, but from listening to
people.
What William Miller teaches us is that a change of heart
can’t be imposed; it can only be chosen. People are capable of
making enormous sacrifices when their actions are anchored
in their own values. On the other hand, they’ll resist compul-
sion on pain of death. The difference between sacrifice and
punishment is not the amount of pain but the amount of
choice.
Ginger Graham, the CEO of the medical devices company
Guidant, learned this in a crisis. After the company introduced
a new cardiovascular stent, sales went through the roof.
Graham wrote of this in her April 2002 article for the Harvard
Business Review titled, “If You Want Honesty, Break Some
Rules.” Almost overnight, demand for the stent far outstretched
supply. And all this hit as the holidays were approaching.
Executives figured that just meeting demand until new sources