1-Minute Win #62 — Influence Over Title

A title may give you authority.
 Your character, service, and example earn you influence.

Lead people—not positions.

#Leadership #Influence

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Welcome to One Minute Wins with Dr. Dana Martin, the podcast where intentional growth meets practical leadership. One quote, one lesson, one action to help you lead yourself and others better. Let's jump in.

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Howdy, and welcome back to One Minute Wins. I am Dr. Dana Martin, leadership coach, author, speaker, and someone who believes leadership has never been about the name on your business card, what letters precede it, or what letters proceed it. Our quote for today is from John Maxwell from one minute win number 62, influence over title. This is going to be a good one. Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It's about one life influencing another. That single sentence changed my life. You see, John Maxwell had a way of putting leadership in a way that changed how I viewed leadership. Because we've all known people with a very impressive title or many letters following their names, but did they inspire anyone? And we've all known people without any authority whatsoever, no title, yet they had a power to change lives. That difference wasn't the position, it was one simple thing: influence. Today we're talking about why your impact comes from who you are, not the title that you hold. So today, I'm gonna say that one more time. Write it down. Your impact comes from who you are, not what title you hold. A title will give you authority to an extent, but influence earns you trust. Authority may get you compliance, but influence earns commitment. Anyone can be promoted, but not everyone becomes a person worth following. You see, real leadership, it starts long before someone hands you the reins to a management position. It begins the moment that your actions begin positively affecting another person. That's influence. Early in my career, I believe leadership started with the promotion. I thought that once I had the title, there would be people naturally listen and flow. And but I learned very quickly that that was not true. Some people respected the position, but very few started off respecting the person. I watched another leader, someone who I did respect, someone who did teach me a lot, someone who actually introduced me to John Maxwell. You know who you are, Jim. Not an impressive title, camp director. No corner office. Well, maybe. Maybe he had a pretty good office in the trailer house that we used as offices. But whenever there was something, man, I mean something difficult, a problem to solve, people naturally gathered around him. Why?

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Because Jim listened, Jim served, Jim encouraged, Jim helped people succeed.

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Jim had influence. And you see, that taught me one of the biggest leadership lessons of my life. And that's that people choose, people will choose to follow influence, not titles, not a position. They choose to follow influence. But what does the research say? Because that's all nice, Dana, and feel good and what have you. According to Gallup, managers account for 70% of the variance in employee engagement. But here's what's really interesting: the biggest driver isn't organizational hierarchy, it's the quality of the relationship between the leader and the employee. Employees who feel respected, developed, supported, they're dramatically more engaged and significantly less likely to leave. Influence creates engagement. Position alone will not. And that's why two leaders with the exact same title can produce completely different results and completely different cultures. Another quote I love comes from my man Simon Sinek. Leadership is not about being in charge, leadership is about taking care of those in your charge. What? Thank you, Mr. Sinek. That's influence. Influence isn't built through authority, it's built through service. When people know you genuinely care about their success, your influence naturally will grow. Another quick quote from John Maxwell: people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. So, one of the greatest compliments I personally have ever received wasn't like, oh, that project or oh, that presentation, or whatever. And it wasn't about coaching and it wasn't about a promotion. It was someone that simply told me, you made me believe I could lead.

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Wow.

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That meant more than any title ever could. And Lord, if if my work on earth is done, take me now because that is a wonderful feeling. It's a piece of fruit from everything that you sow and invest in an individual. That's influence. As coaches, as mentors, as parents, as supervisors, as friends, we often underestimate just how much people are watching. They're watching how we handle the pressure, they're watching how we treat people, they're watching how we treat people under pressure, they're watching how we fail and how we respond to failure, whether we live what we teach or not. And influence happens along the way and begins way before we realize it. So, how do we build influence intentionally? Four ways. Number one, lead yourself well. People trust consistency, and if your words and action match, influence will grow. Number two, serve first. Ask yourself, what can I do to help you succeed? Say that to the mirror, and then say that to your employee. Before asking, what do I need from you for our department? Let's start with what can I do to help you, the employees, succeed? Number three, invest in relationships. People rarely care how much you know until they know how much you care. Thank you, John Maxwell. Take time to know your people. And number four, stay authentic. Influence isn't pretending to be perfect, it's consistently being genuine. So, how do we do it intentionally? Four steps. One, lead yourself well. Second, serve first. Number three, invest in relationships. And number four, stay authentic. So here's today's reflection. Who are you influencing right now? Not who reports to you in your org chart. Who's watching you? Who's learning from your example, maybe from afar? Because whether you realize it or not, there is someone watching. Here's today's action. Lead through service, not position. Take time to encourage someone, to coach someone, help someone succeed. Help them be better in this moment than they were in the previous moment. And don't wait for the bigger title to take an action. Lead from where you are. The best leaders understand something powerful. And that's that titles are temporary, influence lasts. Long after people forget what your position was, they're going to remember how you treated them and whether you added value to them. They're going to remember how you believed in them. And hopefully they're going to remember how you challenged them and how you helped them become a better version of themselves.

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That's leadership. That's legacy.

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Please, please share it with someone who's discovering that leadership maybe isn't about the title or authority, it's about influence. Thank you for listening to One Minute One One Minute Wins, and you'll find this book over on Amazon.com. Always remember, be the example.