Page 156 - The Power to Change Anything

Harness Peer Pressure 145

the new training. The president ended his short, energetic
speech with, “I encourage each of you to take to heart the con-
cepts taught in today’s training.”
When the HR manager showed the video clip at the begin-
ning of the first training session, participants jeered, hooted, and
mocked the president. It turns out that members of the audi-
ence despised anything coming out of headquarters. They
thought the president was a raging hypocrite, and his ringing
endorsement only served to harm the training’s credibility.
Some individuals can exert a great deal of influence on one
another; others can’t. So how do you know who’s who?

THE POWER OF THE RIGHT ONE

We’ve seen that one person can have an enormous effect on
motivating others to enact vital behaviors. We’ve also seen that
the influence of formal leaders (like the CEO and the guy in
the white lab coat) can have a remarkable influence on the
behavior of those in their sphere of influence. So if you want
to influence change, it’s essential that you engage the chain of
command. Smart influencers spend a disproportionate amount
of time with formal leaders to ensure that the leaders are using
their social influence to encourage vital behaviors.
But the bosses are only half of what you’ll need. It turns out
that there’s a second and often overlooked group of people
whose social support or resistance will make or break your influ-
ence efforts. To find out who this group is and how to enlist it,
let’s take a look at the work of Dr. Everett Rogers. His contri-
bution to influence theory remains one of the greatest in his-
tory and has important implications to how all parents, coaches,
and leaders can best make use of social support.
After graduating with a Ph.D. in sociology and statistics, Dr.
Rogers took an intriguing job with the local university exten-
sion service. It was his responsibility to encourage Iowa farm-
ers to use new and improved strains of corn. What could be