by Kevin Donovan

Created on: June 22, 2009   Last Updated: July 07, 2009

History tells us that great leadership is both measured by and defined by a leader's capacity to influence behavior, or more simply, their ability to get people to do what they want them to do, sometimes through whatever means necessary.

If we pare down the tactical methods of leadership to their basic categorical core, there are really only three ways to influence behavior. The first category is Force, which includes not only the tip of a bayonet, the implementation of regime change, or the waterboarded illusion of suffocation, but the threat of these as well, including all other physical, political or economic levers to generate the desired outcome.

The second category is Persuasion, in which the leader does not need to resort to force because they are able to communicate the intimate connection between the desired behavior and the realization of benefits with such clarity that their audience is compelled to follow.

And finally there is Example, in which the audience simply observes the behaviors and outcomes of both the leader and their soon to be motivated audience, and through this observation, they are inspired to follow without any need for either force or persuasion.

What distinguishes Example from the other two methods of influence is its ability to fully incorporate the will of the person or people being influenced. This very human aspect is completely ignored when force is being used, and subject to various communication barriers in the case of persuasion. It is only by following an example that the will is fully empowered and exercised through the unconstrained choices of the follower.

Consequently, Example is the most powerful and sustainable means of influencing behavior. There is no baggage, no violent backlash in the case of force, and no risk of being misled in the case of persuasion. The power of example is enduring because it is entirely consensual both individually and collectively.

Throughout history, the cumulative impact of Example is far greater and more permanent than anything that could be attributed to force or persuasion, and that is in part because it is the only one of the three in which the audience can also observe and choose what not to do entirely on their own. Consider the cultural influence of the United States over the last century; it is almost exclusively a product of Example, in which our cultural spheres of influence have penetrated every continent with an effectiveness that could never have been realized through

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