An Influential Mind:Three Degree of Influence

“You don't have to be a "person of influence" to be influential. In fact, the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they've taught me.” ~Scott Adam    
                                

 Leadership is an influence. An influential mind is inspiring, persuasive, rational and empathetic.  

1. What is Influence?

 Metaphorically:

• Influence is like water, permeating into where it flows…
• Influence is like light, brightening up the surrounding…
• Influence is like a seed, nature made via nurturing environment to sprout it up;
• Influence is like a tree, keep growing to the shadow birds can rest on;
• Influence is like a bee, pollinating flowers, becomes ambassadors in the natural world;
• Influence is like the butterfly effect, a minor change in circumstances can cause a large change in outcome.
• Influence is like the theme of Spring, fresh and energizing; 
• Influence is like the color of autumn, enriched and enchanting;
• Influence may not be as loud as thunder, and influence is more like wind, soothe our skin and touch our heart;
• Influence may not be as overwhelming as storm, and influence is like a rainbow, to bridge the rain and sunshine;
• Influence & Trust: Influence begins with trust, but influence does not necessarily come as a giving to a person with a high trust index. It’s a skill to be learned, a persuasive communication, exemplary leadership, personal sacrifice, all held together by a collection of confidence. Trustworthiness without influence is like an activity report, not an insightful book; Influence without Trustworthiness is like a book cover without context & content.

2. What are your Influence Styles?

• Influence is made via inspiring, to encourage others toward your vision by communicating in depth and breadth;
• Influence is made via asserting, to present ideas via confidence & persuasion and expertise;
• Influence is made via negotiating & exchanging, to get others’ see your point of view, make tradeoff or compromise;
• Influence is made via bridging: to rely on reciprocity, attempt to influence outcomes by uniting or connecting with others;
• Influence is made via rationalizing,  influence style is not always poetic, it can be made via logic and reasoning; data and statistics;

3. Every Role Has its Influence:

• A leader’s influence: leadership is an influence, the leader’s influence is based on courage to inspire, confidence to assert, wisdom to negotiate, and uniqueness to bridge; 

• An Educator’s influence: Educator is an engineer for human’s soul, the influence is based on the power of knowledge, to open the gate in progression and humanity. 

• A writer’s influence: The writer is the person who stands outside society, independent of affiliation and independent of influence. Don DeLillo 

• A technologist’s influence: is on inventing or innovating the new product/service to change the world for advancement.

• An entrepreneur’s influence: is based on 3Cs: Curiosity, Creativity, and Capability, to inspire the world via the spirit of adventure.

• A philosopher’ influence: is to abstract, conceptualizes & blueprint the world to  reach agreement in the universal humane way.

• A Historian’s influence: is like a mirror, reflects thousands of years’ human stories. Every profession and role has its unique influence in the world, and the world has been moved forward via such an abundance of influence.

Posted in: Food for Thought,Future of Leadership,Keywords in 21st Century