Role Models

Did you ever ask someone how they do something?

You know, something they're very good at. Something you want to be able to do well yourself.

And did you try to copy that approach, only to find it didn't work for you?

Welcome to the club.

I had exactly this when learning to teach my dog to walk at heel. Like the dogs you see doing obedience, paying total attention to their handler.

So I asked the people I saw doing this well. And they were all helpful and explained their methods.

These didn't work for me. Why?

Because when I watched what they actually did... It was different from what they thought they did, and said they did.

So, after watching, I modelled that instead.

Surprise. It worked.

This morning this got me thinking about all the advice, we read about leadership, influence, productivity etc.

What if the thing the experts tell us works... isn't what they actually do that works?