Page 272 - The Power to Change Anything

Become an Influencer 261

their hand when they see themselves committing a felony. And
they do.
This method for creating a sense of impending doom is
coupled with family support, job training, and several other
essential ingredients that have yielded encouraging results. In
fact, the designers of second-chance programs go to great pains
to ensure that all six sources of influence are affected by their
change strategy.
The impressive results of the comprehensive effort have
since been reported in the press. Police leaders enthusiastically
read about the strategy and select a few of the elements they
think their city council will approve, or a couple for which
they can secure funding. Or perhaps they give extra attention
to a strategy they are already implementing but can now call a
second-chance program. And sure enough, after employing
only one or two elements from the overall intervention, the
change effort fails. In the end, eager would-be influencers
search for another change plan that they then choose from
selectively and implement poorly—thus failing all over again.

If One Source Doesn’t Work, Try More Sources

The simplistic strategies that most people adopt from the cafe-
teria of choices are almost always the same. People realize that
when it comes to motivating humans, a single motivator can
be powerful enough to trump all other sources of motivation.
For instance, say you don’t like your job and aren’t very fond
of your coworkers, yet you show up to work every day. That’s
because you need the money. The money trumps your tedious
job and abrasive colleagues.
In a similar vein, when people have power over others, they
often trump all other sources of motivation by relying on
threats. Now that others have been warned, surely they’ll be
motivated to do the right thing. Unfortunately, negative rein-
forcement yields mixed results and needs to be constantly