After years of studying influence, I knew the definition by rote—or I thought I did. I’ve always seen influence defined in this way: Influence is the ability to get work done with and through people—without formal authority.
A statement in a blog entry by Mike Myatt pulled me up short: Influence is built on making others successful. Wow—that’s succinct and clear and TRUE!
Classic ways of thinking about influence as getting work accomplished without authority focus on building a base of expertise; building credibility; achieving connection with influential people and sources of information; lending a hand when necessary; appealing to people’s values and convictions; etc. All these actions are important, but they can be summed up in the simple approach: Influence is built on making others successful.
Think about it: We admire people who make us successful. We are attracted to them. And we will do anything we can to support their goals and aspirations.This definition allows us to have a lofty and selfish goal at the same time. Make a commitment to contribute to someone else’s success every day. You’ll grow as an admirable person and also as someone who has influence—the ability to get things done without formal authority.
July 15, 2008 at 1:34 pm |
I visited this site to research on my assignment question on influence. just wanted to leave you a comment that this really gave me a whole different view of the subject. though i may be an anonymous person now, but i’d like to be a person of influence someday later =)
November 23, 2008 at 6:19 pm |
Thanks for the definition – I may use this on my blog and link back here. I write exclusively on the topic of influence on my new site – http://influenceguru.com
Richard