“Non nobis solum nati sumus—
Not for ourselves alone
are we born.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Today’s young adults are tomorrow’s ethical leaders. Leaders of promise. Leaders of integrity. Leaders of intentionality rising to a grand potential. For this incarnation of leadership to transpire…Influencers must step up —and provide influence.
Effective Influencers are difference-makers—acting as mentors, providing behavioral example in a success context.
The effective Influencer exemplifies integrity, honesty and transparency—influencing by living, influencing by his/her actions. There are no rules but more often than not Influencers are respected and their opinions are valued. They are listened to and there is trust in what they say and do. Influencers are leaders; leaders become Influencers. It is a cycle of perfection.
Influencers often are the engagement and opportunity touchpoint for an aspiring leader—specifically because they are intent on making a difference in the life and times of their ephemeral existence. Simply, Influencers make a difference through involved interest, actions and substantive support.
According to the book, Influencer: The Power To Change Anything, (Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillian and Al Switzler)— Influencers that apply sound “influence theory” have the power to make change inevitable. The authors cite six sources of influence, which can be evolved to alternately motivate or enable toward the vital behaviors of leadership.
Those six sources of influence include motivating through personal, social and structural forces and alternately enabling through personal, social and structural ability development.
The influencer model as summed up by the authors shows that, “…virtually all forces that have an impact on human behavior work on only two mental maps…At the end of the day a person asks, ‘Can I do what’s required?’ and, ‘Will it be worth it?’ The first question asks, ‘Am I able’? The second, ‘Am I motivated?’…strategies work in one of two ways. They either motivate or enable a vital behavior. Some do both.”
It is up to the effective Influencer, the well-placed leader prepared and blessed to make a difference, to support the vital behaviors of leadership in our young adults and provide motivational and enabling direction and resources.
In the Influencer role, strong leaders may find themselves reaching out with any number of motivational or enabling assists. Sifting through dictionaries and other lexical resources uncovers definitions describing Influencer actions in many and varied contexts:
“An effect of one person on another; the power of a person to have such an effect…power or sway resulting from ability, wealth, position, authority, direction, mastery, ascendancy, pull, weight, strength, connections, importance, prestige, clout, leverage, impact, impression, allure, magnetism, concern, guidance, persuasion, prompting, urging, counseling, inducement…”
Ultimately for our world to cultivate the ethical leadership that inspires greatness and fulfills potential—many high integrity leaders must accept the honor and responsibility to embrace the Influencer mantle. Influencers are the difference makers.