Good or Bad: What Influence Are You Having On The World?
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After watching the Spanish film “Airplane Mode”, and noting more buzz about Influencers in Social Media, I was incredulously gobsmacked. Why was I so shocked about people getting PAID to endorse products and state their opinions? After all, despite what millenials will swear on their great uncle’s bichon frisee’s cremation urn is new phenomena, influencing has been around since…well…even before Dale Carnegie’s pre-World War 2 book “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. Influence and its after affects have existed since the beginning of time.
Tony Robbins discusses intentional influence. He claims it must include: Extraordinary Hunger and Drive, Exceptional and Compelling Vision, Absolute Certainty, the ability to be a Passionate and Effective Communicator and Brilliant Strategist, and the ability to Care, Connect, and Break Patterns. He also adds to the list: not settling for anything but Unreasonable Expectations and Standards, having Courage and Faith to Act, being Insanely Persistent yet Flexible, as well as Authentic and Congruent. That’s an extremely long list.
As I searched for information about influence it was almost always linked to leadership. Or famous people. We likely all think of Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Jesus, Buddha, Rosa Parks… But realistically we ALL have influence on others, whether our image is on a form a of currency or if we make a trillion dollars a quarter or if we scrape coins from the pavement and our lunch scraps from a dumpster. We all have “spheres of Influence” (Carnegie) and we all influence someone somehow. To some those may be nations, to others the sphere includes only a child or friend. We ALL have influence on others.
Life is full of opportunities to be a positive influence on others. Or a negative influence on others. We have the choice. Lance Ekum
What influence do we have? How have we influenced others? How do we want to be influential?
Perhaps the greatest example for successful influence involves “leading by example”. Some might holler “walk the talk”. The most recent examples of this (or lack of this) can be seen in response to Covid. How many leaders are currently wearing masks in public? When our Prime Minister, in isolation after his wife tested positive for Covid, gave lonely “press conferences” from his porch, his unruly, uncut hair reminded me that he, too, was quarantining. When I see our politicians sporting masks even in geographical areas that haven’t regulated and legislated it like it our region, I see leaders who are walking the talk and influentially setting an example.
What examples are you setting? How are you being a positive influence in this world?
To watch a fun episode about Influence, watch Magic for Humans on Netflix (season 3 episode 1 “Power Trip”).
