By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to enhance your persuasive skills. Reading time: 2:44.

Lovers know it. Would-be leaders forget it. And too many wanna-bees ignore it.

It is foreplay of the business kind.

It is the kind of leadership behavior that establishes a mood, ignites a dynamic and mutually satisfies any negotiation: from gaining buy-in for a merger to reprimanding a staffer to pitching a new account to buying fruits and vegetables.

Yes. Even buying fruits and vegetables.

Walk into any grocery store and you’ll immediately get a leadership lesson up front and center.

The produce section—always positioned close to the entrance- is bathed in lights glistening in an array of orange, green and red colors. Spot lights beam everywhere like a Broadway production, shining on the oranges and grapefruits, cucumbers and tomatoes so intently you almost expect them to break out into a song and dance.

Luring You In

The lights lure you in closer and closer. Almost seductively. You feel the smooth skin of a cucumber. You smell the enticing aroma of a banana. You feel the round, breast-like shape of an orange. The lights draw you in closer and closer and closer — until you can’t resist any longer. Your hands seemed to be automatically squeezing. Your mouth involuntarily sucking. Your hands automatically caressing the fruits and vegetables. Then you find yourself giving those fruits and vegetables a ride in your grocery cart and finally home in your vehicle. Continue reading “Set the Mood First Then Make Your Move” →