Leaders fill many different positions and perform widely diverse functions. But one primary goal of leadership is the same for all: to help people become self-motivated to use their skills and efforts to achieve the goals of the organization. The operative word in that sentence is self-motivated. The attention given to motivation is not new. Since the first recorded history, leaders have attempted to discover new ways to attract the willing cooperation of others. Records of their attempts along with accounts of their successes and failures have filled countless volumes; but all of the different methods discovered can be sorted into three basic categories: fear motivation, incentive motivation, and attitude motivation.

Effective communicators reach their business and personal goals because they understand people and interact meaningfully with them. They go above and beyond ordinary means and methods of sending messages; they express a unique human touch in their communication. Human behavior experts have long said the most universal need is to understand and to be understood. Insightful and effective communicators meet these most basic human needs when they interact with others.

When you understand and communicate effectively with people you:

As you grow in personal leadership, the excitement you experience in achieving new goals is so fulfilling that you will never want to give up the rewards of this way of life. The gratification you receive from exercising personal leadership makes it hard to believe that it would be possible to live any other way. But new habits and attitudes require alert monitoring to insure their continuity. Old habits and atittudes still lurk in the recesses of your subconscious and will reassert themselves if you are not vigilant. Two motivation blocks that stem the natural tide of creativity are so frequently encountered that it is good to have a plan in advance for dealing with them should they occur.

The two blocks are: