WWAFD (What Would A Fan Do)

WWAFD? What would a fan do? Not like a scream and faint Beatles at Shea Stadium fan, but a true admirer of your work fan? Leadership consultant Randall Stutman says great leaders are fans of their people. Stutman calls it fan-ness. We can use it with our colleagues and our clients.

It’s easy to fall into a trap of one-size-fits-all motivators. Incentives, awards, perqs, titles, recognitions – these are the carrots on sticks we all are used to. While they’re fine, Stutman says we should look beyond them to whatever drives our people to even bother reaching for them.

When we think like a fan, we put ourselves in the mindset of being interested in what another person thinks is special. When we think like a fan we look where someone else is focused and cheer them on.

Maybe the screaming fans at Shea Stadium got discounts to bobblehead night the following week and that’s why they were so excited. Maybe that incentive program or group title accounts for the results. Maybe. But probably not. Certainly not exclusively.

When we ask “What Would A Fan Do” we change our focus to not just what matters, but what matters to our people to get there. When we boost our fan-ness we boost our support for those ultimately responsible for our own success.

There are now (at least) two great Randall Stutman interviews out there – one on the James Altucher Podcast and the other on Capital Allocators with Ted Seides. Stutman’s company’s website has a ton more too – Admired Leadership.