Success Secrets and Stories
To share management leadership concepts that actually work.
You are responsible for your development as a leader. Don't expect the boss to invest the training budget in your career. Consider this podcast as an investment of time in your career, with a bit of management humor added at the same time.
Success Secrets and Stories
Influence Beyond Traditional Definition of Leadership
Unlock the secrets of true leadership influence and discover how to lead with respect and collaboration at the forefront. Drawing inspiration from Dale Carnegie's classic principles alongside modern insights from the Center for Creative Leadership, we promise insights that will transform your approach to shaping opinions and behaviors within your organization. Join us as we unpack the essence of influence through four crucial skills every leader should master: organizational intelligence, team promotion, trust-building, and leveraging networks. Learn how these skills empower leaders to navigate the complex waters of organizational politics, guide teams through change, and ultimately cultivate a positive and collaborative work environment.
In this episode, we spotlight inspirational leaders like Arianna Huffington, Richard Branson, and Medina F. Emerson, examining their profound impact across various industries. Dwight D. Eisenhower's empathetic leadership style during World War II stands as a testament to strategic and influential guidance. Personal stories underscore the importance of active listening, as Greg recounts his encounter with a charismatic executive and John shares transformative career advice from a Christian brother. Through these narratives, we emphasize how genuine influence extends beyond power, creating lasting impressions through charm, sincerity, and a keen understanding of human dynamics. Tune in to discover how you too can harness these essential skills to become an effective and respected leader.
Presented by John Wandolowski and Greg Powell
Well, hello and welcome to Success Sequels and Stories. I'm your host, John Wondolowski, and I'm here with my co-host and friend, brad Powell. Mr Powell, hey everybody, yeah.
Speaker 2:Today we're going to be talking about the influential skills of a manager how do you influence people, and the mechanics of what that really means. So, not to confuse the influencer kind of mentality that we always hear about social media, it's today, in the world of influencers it is mentioned, that people quickly think of social media influencers as their first reference. A social media influencer is a user on social media who has an established credibility in a specific industry. These content generators have access to large audiences and share information to persuade others and to derive social media engagement in terms of their authenticity and their reach. Now, that's something different in terms of what it means to be an influencer in terms of skills for a manager.
Speaker 2:This podcast is not about social influencers. It's about people. It's about individuals who have actually influenced your life. Remember the old book title how to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie? It's a classic read and things that top salespeople would have to read to understand the industry. More about that book later.
Speaker 2:This episode is going over and focusing on the influencing skills for leaders and what it means to be a more effective leader. The definition of an influencer's skill is to reference the ability for a leader to shape the opinions, the attitudes and behaviors of others within their organization, encouraging them to be supportive, to be actively participating in achieving the goals. You know to take ownership. You know to take ownership often to persuade communication, to be active listeners, to understand individual needs and to rely solely on their position of the authority is not the key, but is the part of authority that helps them to influence.
Speaker 2:The relationship between power and influence is very easy to confuse. Power is the ability and the capacity to bring people along, for them to understand the travel that they're trying to lead. It often leads to resentment because there's that pushback against power. Now, an influencer has the ability to modify a person in terms of how they develop and behave and think. In relationship to persuasion, instead of telling, they're asking. They're trying to bring the person in and it often leads to respect. It also leads to people to understand that this opportunity, this thing that you're trying to influence the person, has to come from them, not from the influencer. In order for that message to be received, they need to understand it and you need to bring them along. That's the secret, greg. I think you have a different way of trying to capture this concept.
Speaker 1:Thanks, John, I had an opportunity to spend some time with an organization called the Center for Creative Leadership, affectionately known as CCL, and this organization drives to create a ripple effect of positive change, and it underpins everything. They do so. For over 50 years they pioneered leadership development solutions for everyone, from frontline workers to global CEOs. They consistently rank among the world's top providers of executive education, with research-based programs and solutions including two out of three of the Fortune 1000 to ignite remarkable transformations. So I personally, I was fortunate to participate in a CCL program in Colorado some years ago that had a significant impact on my career. My particular focus was on receiving feedback and how to turn feedback into action plans. I've recommended a program for the development of several leaders over the years, and they have their own perspective on influencing skills for leaders. So, according to the Center for Creative Leadership, the best leaders have these four key influencing skills.
Speaker 1:The first one organizational intelligence. They understand how to get things done and embrace the reality of working within organizational politics to move teams and important initiatives forward Team promotion. Number two Leaders cut through the noise and the BS, as we like to say, to authentically and credibly promote themselves Right, john? Yeah, that's right which also promotes what's good for the entire organization. We've talked in these podcasts about trust, so trust building is a number three influencing skill, because leadership often involves guiding people through risk and change, so trust is so essential. And finally, number four, leveraging networks.
Speaker 1:No leader is an island. They can't be out there by themselves. They are empowered by their connections with others, by their connections with others. So let's take these down one by one. First one, organizational intelligence. Savvy leaders view politics as a neutral and necessary part of organizational life. We used to say if you don't think you're practicing politics, you are, whether you're doing it consciously or unconsciously, so you probably ought to do it consciously. It can be used constructively and ethically to advance informational aims For a leader. Political skills in action could look something like this Networking to build social capital, including mingling, strategically Thinking before responding. How many times have we thought gosh? I wish I would have thought before I said something.
Speaker 2:Wow, and just taking a pause before you engage the mouth. It's so important.
Speaker 1:It is indeed, john, it is. Consider context and goals before deciding when and how to express their point of view. How about paying close attention to nonverbal cues? We used to call it reading the room? Right, yeah, practice active listening. Consider how others might feel and find ways to appeal to the common good not just what you're trying to put through, but the common good and then leaving people with a good impression without coming across as trying too hard. The second one promote yourself. Promote your tea, and at first that sounds a little bit braggish or selfish. Right to promote yourself. But leaders who know how to influence people understand that by promoting themselves authentically and for the right reasons, they can cut through the information that bombards us all each day. And in the hands of an astute leader, authentic self-promotion isn't just a tool to advance one's own career. It can provide visibility and opportunities for the people that report to them. It can generate team and organizational pride and make capabilities and ideas more visible across the organization, ultimately enhancing collaboration and consensus. John, how about the next two?
Speaker 2:I just want to step back for a second. The whole thing about politics, the whole thing about how that really interplays and how your listening skills. A lot of people are lousy at trying to promote themselves and it's like the worst skill for an engineer. The engineering types are like well, you should see it, I did all these things. You should know that I did those things. You have to do self-promotion. It really is an important skill set and it's something that some people are just not. They don't understand how important that really is. So I'm just going to put a stamp on that. It is huge that people aren't going to do or understand a lot of what you do unless you put the effort to try to tell people the story, give them the background, let them understand the things that you've done. So let's just continue To maintain and to build.
Speaker 2:Trust is the foundation Building and maintaining a leadership. Trust is essential. Without trust, leaders may be able to force people to comply, and that's not going to get you where you want to be. But they have to be fully committed for the capabilities and the creativity that the group can offer. Leveraging the assets is invaluable when tracking the tough challenges and making strategic change. So trust is the key and most vital element. People who look for leaders can appreciate the vulnerability and inspire them, understand them, support them and guide them through looming chaos. It requires a leader to demonstrate a broad range of expertise and behaviors to be self-reflective. To be honest, people look for leaders who can anticipate their vulnerability and inspire them, to understand them, to support them, to guide them through looming chaos. This requires the leader to demonstrate a broad range of expertise and behaviors, some of which can be counter to their normal approach. They have to use what's appropriate and timely for that condition, for that time frame. To foster trust. You have to be an open person to understand what they're going through. Trust is really involved in terms of a careful balance between pushing people into areas where they're uncomfortable, while also listening carefully to their concerns and feedback, among the many balancing acts that they must work with to maintain trustworthy leadership, to negotiate the toughness and the empathy as the individuals struggle with the transition, as they understand the urgency, with patience, as they change those processes and proceed and find that success.
Speaker 2:The next category is leveraging networks. Finally, a leader who understands how to influence people recognizes and cultivates the power of networks. Organizations are increasingly dynamic. They morph into size and shape over time. Influential leaders have a network perspective and recognize that their personal networks must also be dynamic and growing. There is also a strategic approach in terms of choosing how much and when to tap into this network. In terms of choosing how much and when to tap into this network and I want to talk about networks just a little bit because individuals who do not understand networks, I can tell you right now, there's organizations, there's networks that are out there that are either based on your industry or based on a particular craft that you're doing your engineering, your, your HR.
Speaker 2:You have to extend yourself. You need to be in networks. You need that connection If you want to understand leadership. It isn't done in a bubble. The more you expand yourself, the more that you are going to be a better leader. The networks are key for growth. Try not to do it just online, but if that's the only thing you can do, it's better than nothing. It's really that important.
Speaker 2:So the last category is influencing people, various by roles, early in your career or as an individual contributor. You influence the working environment and the effectiveness of people over time, and it's for those people that may not have authority over it. Recognizes the ability to present logical and compelling arguments, to engage the give and take when a leader is in the middle of something that they're trying to get a focus on and trying to develop these four skills of influencing others. This is how we expand and how we grow In a senior level, in executive roles. Influencing others is more about steering the long range objectives steering, inspiring others and motivating others to communicate that vision.
Speaker 2:Whenever you are in an organization, chances are you want to master these techniques to influence people, to influence with one of the four core leadership skills we just discussed, and they're needed in every role. These are the cornerstones of what you're looking for in terms of influence. Now, greg, I think you have a great book that both of us have found helpful in our careers. Why don't you talk about a very interesting person who tried to document this concept of influencing people from a leadership perspective?
Speaker 1:Thank you, john. Yes, we're talking about Dale Carnegie the man, the myth, the legend. The legend, yes. So Dale was born into poverty on November 24th 1888 in Maryville, missouri. He worked as a traveling salesman before teaching a public speaking at a local YMCA. But he had a seminal self-help book. It was called how to Win Friends and Influence People. It won him a national following and enabled him to expand the Dale Carnegie Institute in the countries around the world. He died in 1955 in Queens, new York.
Speaker 1:Now you probably, if you're like my age or somewhere close, you'll remember that yellow lettering on this dark book and black and white picture of Mr Carnegie was on everyone's bookshelf. Back in the day you didn't have to be a salesperson necessarily. It was about influencing skills beyond sales. So let me tell you about some of the highlights of that book how to Win Friends and Influence People.
Speaker 1:So there were seven key points that Mr Carnegie put together. The first one don't criticize, don't condemn and don't complain. The second one give honest, sincere appreciation. The third one arouse in the other person an eager to want to make something happen, to get excited. Number four become genuinely interested in other people, not casually interested, but genuinely, authentically interested in other folks. Number five always comes to my mind. My boss at a meeting texted me once at an important meeting and he said to do this, this is smile. It was interesting at that meeting. I felt pressure and it came out of my face. I'm glad we had texting capabilities and his text made me smile, but smiling is really important. How you can help you influence people made me smile, but smiling is really important. How you can help you influence people.
Speaker 2:The smile is also, I think, been defined as the most common thing in terms of attracting someone, in terms of a relationship. When you see the smile of the other person, it changes the relationship. It's a human condition. So you know, like if you're sitting in a meeting and you can't smile, unless you're really telling a company's folding next week, you should be smiling.
Speaker 1:Number six remember that a person's name to that person is the sweetest and most important sound in any language. And if you can remember their name, just a first name, last name, it's golden. Right, it's golden. It's hard to do, but it is golden. And then the last one, number seven be a good listener. Don't just go through the motions. Be an authentically good listener. Now, most of you have heard about Warren Buffett, right? He actually took the Dale Carnegie course many, many, many years ago of how to win friends and influence people, when he was 20 years old, so a very young Mr Buffett, and to this day he has the diploma for that course in his office. That's how powerful it was to him. All right, John, any leaders that you can think of that are known for being great influencers.
Speaker 2:She is the co-founder of Huffington Post, the founder and CEO of Thrive Global and has written 15 books and is truly a leader. Sir Richard Charles Branson, the English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group back in the 1970s. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneur at a very young age and has multiple companies that he has now founded over time, so a true influencer. And then Medina F Emerson, known as the small biz lady, is one of America's leading small business experts. Her expertise includes small business startups, business development and social marketing, and these are all influencers that have influenced the market itself.
Speaker 2:And probably one of my favorite influencers is Dwight D Eisenhower, and the quote that, I think, says it all for me. You don't lead by hitting people over the head. That's assault, not leadership. There's no way that you can get people to actually follow you. Like he did in World War II, when he was actually talking about D-Day, he went out and walked the lines of the people who were going To his mind. A lot of them were never going to come back. Leadership was standing there with them and understanding completely the risk that they were taking. That is a leader, and he's a wonderful example. Greg, I think you have a little bit more on that.
Speaker 1:Thanks, john. Yes, there was an influencing CEO board member whatever you want to call them, the highest levels of leadership I had a chance to interact with some time ago. He was a senior executive leader. I met him first by reputation. So the company I went to he had been away from for a couple of years. He'd moved on and I had one phone call conversation where I got introduced to him. But I'd never otherwise met him.
Speaker 1:But he was universally respected and admired throughout the company I was working for, not just at the highest heights of leadership in the C-suite, but even the folks in the mailroom, the janitorial staff. They knew who this person was. He had that kind of an impact on them. He was well known for leaving people with a good impression without coming across trying too hard. It was very natural, it was very casual for him. He demonstrated trust and showed a careful balance between pushing people into areas where they might have felt a little uncomfortable, while also listening carefully to their concerns and feedback. He was purposeful about choosing how and when to tap into various networks, as John talked about, throughout the organization and outside of the organization.
Speaker 1:This was an individual that just had an incredible wit, had a smile, remembered your name a year later and employees remembered their conversations with him like they had just talked to him the day before, although it had been probably a year since they'd had a conversation with him. He also had a light Southern accent. It probably didn't hurt the charm, right. But when I think of influence skills, he's the kind of person that said, hey, would you do this for me? And you wanted to work for him. You wanted to deliver, you wanted to make things happen.
Speaker 2:That's how he made you feel as an employee of the organization and he actually made you feel like you were on the same level of went back to my high school days and I had a teacher who was a Christian brother. I went to an all-boys school, so it has its own dynamics and I always get a tickle out of how the Christian brothers handled their conversations. So they were very direct and to the point. There wasn't a lot of fluff with a Christian brother and this particular brother was very influential in my life. But when I was probably down the most and I was confused in terms of what I wanted to do career, business-wise, trying to find a way to support myself he listened to what I had to say and he said John, the things that are built, that you want to go into the mechanical side, the engineering side, they're all made by men, and men are no more intelligent or influential than yourself. You have the capacity to understand what men and other people make in the real world. Just have the confidence that you're going to be able to figure it out. Well, those simple words of there's nothing really beyond your capacity to understand stayed with me, that whole piece of challenging my career and moving from one industry or one particular approach to a completely different. I went from manufacturing to healthcare to higher education and those words from that Christian brother was probably the most influential in my young life. To understand that it's not beyond my capacity Do I have to learn? Sure, Is it beyond my capacity to learn? No, Greg's influential leader that just kind of took over the room and helped an industry, as well as, for me, an influential leader that helped the individual to see beyond those restrictions and those things that are holding them back, to think beyond it and to be able to grow. We have those all through our lives. The key is to hear them, to listen, because there are influential people that can help you. But if you're not listening, there's a core problem and I think if you look back at a lot of our podcasts, you'll see a constant theme of you have to be an active listener, Probably one of the core requirements to understand how to be a responsible leader. So, if you like what you've heard, my book and e-book and audio book and whatever kind of book that you can think of is available at Amazoncom and on my website, AuthorJWcom, so give it a look. The podcast is available on Apple and Google and Spotify and whatever it is that you're on, and thank you for listening. We appreciate it Again.
Speaker 2:Dr Durst and his MBR program. A lot of what we talk about on our program is available on successgrowthacademycom and the music is brought to you by my grandson. So we want to hear from you. Send us a line. We learn a lot. We modify our program because of the input that we get and we do appreciate your participation. It's a lot of fun for Greg and I, so I just wanted to say thank you again. So, Greg, thanks.
Speaker 1:Thanks, John, as always.
Speaker 2:Next time yeah.