How to Grow Your Leadership Influence — Part 1

Hello my friend, welcome to The Leadership Tip of the Week. Today I want to talk about how to grow your leadership influence.

It is Tony Robbins who said that “A leader is a person who can influence the thoughts, the feelings, the emotions and the actions of another human being.” Leadership is about influence. It’s about the effect that you have on the way people in your team and in your organisation think and behave. If you want to improve the quality of your leadership, improve the strength of your influence. How do you do that? Today and over the next two weeks, I will uncover three secrets that will help you grow your influence.

Secret number 1: Be Authentic. Why? Because, as Craig Groeschel puts it, “People would rather follow a leader who is always real than one who is always right.” Authenticity relies on honesty and integrity, and it creates trust. When people trust you, they are more likely to follow you.

To be authentic, know who you are, be who you are, and share who you are.

Unfortunately, too many people in leadership position lack self-awareness. If you don’t know who you are, how can you be yourself? As the saying goes, if you try to be someone else, one of you will be irrelevant. And it’s not going to be the other person. So, know and be who you are. And share who you are with others. Don’t be afraid to bring your whole self wherever you go.

This was your Leadership Tip for this week: The first secret to grow your influence as a leader is to be authentic. Know who you are; Be who you are; and Share who you are.

Next week I will uncover secret #2. Until then, take responsibility for everything that happens to you and be committed to serving others. That’s how you become and remain the leader everybody trusts and respects.

Written by Maxime Yao. Extract from The Leadership Tip of the Week podcast.