See What’s Possible

One of the best ways to motivate others is to learn from those who have motivated you. Learn from the great leaders you have had. Channel them, clone them, and incorporate them into who you are all day.

Scott Richardson recalls: “The most effective, inspirational motivator that I ever had was a violin prodigy who was my violin teacher.”

He was an associate professor of music at the University of Arizona named Rodney Mercado. I met him when I was 16 and ready to quit the violin. My mother, who desperately wanted me to be a violin player said, “Hang on, I’ll find you the best teacher out there.” I was skeptical. But one day, she came in and said to me, “I found him; he’s the teacher of your teacher.”

The first time I met him, I had to audition for him. I’d never had to audition for a teacher before. Usually you’d just pay the money, and they took you. But Mercado chose his students carefully, just as a great leader chooses his team.

And I did the absolutely worst audition I’d ever done in my life! I thought, “Well, that sealed it. I don’t have to worry about having him for my teacher.”

Soon after, he called me on the phone and said, “I’ve accepted you.”

And I thought, “There must be some mistake, this can’t be true. I mean, my playing was so horrible, I couldn’t imagine anyone accepting me based on that.”

But he had the ability to see what was possible in other people. If anyone else had heard my audition, he would have said that it was hopeless. But he heard more than the playing. He heard the possibility behind the playing.

And in that, he was a profoundly great coach and leader, because one of the most vital aspects of motivating others is the ability to see what’s possible instead of just seeing what’s happening now.

Ever since that time, I’ve learned not to give up on people too quickly. I’ve learned to look deeply and listen deeply. Soon, skills and strengths I never saw before in people would show up.

I learned that people perform in response to who they think they are for us at the moment. In other words, how we see others is how they perform for us. Once we create a new possibility for those around us, and communicate that to them, their performance as that person instantly takes off.

Professor Mercado showed me another example of the power of communicating possibility when he was teaching a boy named Michael, who later became a good friend of mine.

Michael was unusual. When he was in junior high, as far as I could guess, he had never ever cut his long black hair because it was longer than his sister’s, which was down below her belt. And Michael always kept his hair in front of his face, so you actually couldn’t see what he looked like. And he never spoke a word in public.

His parents asked Mr. Mercado if he would be willing to teach Michael the violin. Mr. Mercado agreed and they had lessons, but as far as any outsider could tell, it was strictly a one-way communication. Michael never responded outwardly. He never even picked up the violin! Yet Mr. Mercado continued to teach him, week after week.

And then one day, when he was in 8th grade, Michael picked up the violin and started playing. And in less than a month, he was asked to solo in front of the Tucson Symphony! I could see for myself that this happened because Mr. Mercado communicated to Michael (without any outward acknowledgment that communication was being received) that who Michael was for Mr. Mercado was a virtuoso violinist.

So I have always remembered from this experience that people’s performance is a response to who they perceive themselves to be for us at the moment. Once we create a new possibility for those around us, and communicate to them that this new possibility is who they are for us, then their performance instantly takes off.

There’s no better way to motivate another human being.