According to Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan, the Three Laws of Performance are as follows:
1. How people perform correlates to how situations occur to them
2. How a situation occurs arises in language
3. Future-based language transforms how situations occur to people
Sound confusing? At first glance, it appears to be leadership/business buzzwords mixed together to create an idea that, while it may be effective on paper, can never be translated into action. However, that surface assumption is absolutely incorrect. Instead, the book is chock full of insightful ways of looking at how our language predisposes us to certain actions, how we can target actions that we want to see happen in the future by re-structuring the way we define ourselves and our future, and finally, how to be an effective leader by changing the way that you use language.
Language doesn't necessarily mean how you speak or gestures that you make. The authors explain that the book is about how "conversations" between individuals are what make corporations run, and as such, we need to look at how these conversations are being framed.
If a company's workers are all under the impression- or using the language- of believing that the company is going to fail, production will decrease, employees will remain unmotivated, and their predictions will eventually become a reality. But what if the language changed? By reestablishing a new vision of the future of that company, suddenly, the actual future of the company can changed.
A few great excerpts:
On leaders: "Leaders listen for a future that inspires them... Their power comes not from their personalities but from the future that is their mandate, their guide, and their reason for being."
On life: "Aristotle said every play has three acts: a beginning, a middle, and an end. The first act of the play called My Life or My Company is your past. The second act is the present. The third act is your future."
On self-discovery: "If you want to transform who you are- how you occur too yourself- then you need to create a crisis of identity, one in which the only way out is transformation."
This book is based on transformation of our psyche: change your perception, and it will change your life. What makes people do what they do is how a situation "occurs" to them, so if we change the way that situation "occurs" through using positive future-based language in a meaningful way (motivational speeches with no backbone don't count), then we can transform that future. The authors are quick to remind their readers that without action to back up the words, language won't change anything. But changing the phrasing in order to transform to create a more positive future, now that's something!
"This book filled with insights, real-life encounters and experiences shows us how we may do the work of transformation. Steve and Dave have written an inspiring, practical book, applicable in the corporate, labour, political, and civil society sectors, that will assist all who seek to rewrite the future of our world." -Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Laureate, Former General Secretary, South African Council of Churches
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