As the bio on his Amazon page explains, “Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations. Brian’s goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 55 other countries worldwide. As a keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year.
“He has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. He is the top selling author of over 45 books that have been translated into dozens of languages. He has written and produced more than 300 audio and video learning programs, including the worldwide, best-selling Psychology of Achievement, which has been translated into more than 20 languages. He speaks to corporate and public audiences on the subjects of personal growth and professional development, including the executives and staff of many of America’s largest corporations. His exciting talks and seminars on leadership, selling, self-esteem, goals, strategy, creativity and success psychology bring about immediate changes and long-term results.”
In the latest of his several dozen books, Motivation, published by AMACOM (April 2013), Tracy offers rock-solid advice on how to respond effectively to a number of major challenges in business. For example:
“There are seven ways that the manager can build and reinforce a positive self-concept in each employee. These practices align with seven motivators:
1. Challenge: Give people jobs that make them stretch.
2. Freedom: Give people sufficient autonomy to work without close supervision.
3. Control: Set regular times for review, feedback, and discussion of the work.
4. Respect: When you ask for people’s opinions, and listen closely to them when they want to talk, they feel more comfortable and important.
5. Warmth: The more your people see that you like and care about them as individuals, in addition to members of the staff, the better they will perform.
6. Success Experience: A key to self-esteem and self-concept building is to give people jobs that they can perform successfully at their levels of experience and skill.
7. Positive Expectations: This is perhaps the most powerful motivator of all. Nothing boosts self-esteem and improves performance more than when people sense that their boss believes that they are good and competent and that they have the ability to do the job well.
“Successful companies are those that create an environment where people feel terrific about themselves. Understanding the role of the self-concept in behavior is the starting point of effectiveness in management and motivation.”