February 19, 2025 • 24 mins
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
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
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.
Today we're going to be talkingabout the influential skills of
a manager how do you influencepeople, and the mechanics of
(00:42):
what that really means.
So, not to confuse theinfluencer kind of mentality
that we always hear about socialmedia, it's today, in the world
of influencers it is mentioned,that people quickly think of
social media influencers astheir first reference.
A social media influencer is auser on social media who has an
(01:04):
established credibility in aspecific industry.
These content generators haveaccess to large audiences and
share information to persuadeothers and to derive social
media engagement in terms oftheir authenticity and their
reach.
Now, that's something differentin terms of what it means to be
an influencer in terms ofskills for a manager.
(01:26):
This podcast is not about socialinfluencers.
It's about people.
It's about individuals who haveactually influenced your life.
Remember the old book title howto win friends and influence
people by Dale Carnegie?
It's a classic read and thingsthat top salespeople would have
to read to understand theindustry.
More about that book later.
(01:49):
This episode is going over andfocusing on the influencing
skills for leaders and what itmeans to be a more effective
leader.
The definition of aninfluencer's skill is to
reference the ability for aleader to shape the opinions,
the attitudes and behaviors ofothers within their organization
(02:13):
, encouraging them to besupportive, to be actively
participating in achieving thegoals.
You know to take ownership.
You know to take ownershipoften to persuade communication,
(02:40):
to be active listeners, tounderstand individual needs and
to rely solely on their positionof the authority is not the key
, but is the part of authoritythat helps them to influence.
The relationship between powerand influence is very easy to
confuse.
Power is the ability and thecapacity to bring people along,
for them to understand thetravel that they're trying to
(03:01):
lead.
It often leads to resentmentbecause there's that pushback
against power.
Now, an influencer has theability to modify a person in
terms of how they develop andbehave and think.
In relationship to persuasion,instead of telling, they're
asking.
They're trying to bring theperson in and it often leads to
(03:21):
respect.
It also leads to people tounderstand that this opportunity
, this thing that you're tryingto influence the person, has to
come from them, not from theinfluencer.
In order for that message to bereceived, they need to
understand it and you need tobring them along.
That's the secret, greg.
(03:43):
I think you have a differentway of trying to capture this
concept.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Thanks, John, I had an opportunity to spend some
time with an organization calledthe Center for Creative
Leadership, affectionately knownas CCL, and this organization
drives to create a ripple effectof positive change, and it
underpins everything.
They do so.
For over 50 years theypioneered leadership development
solutions for everyone, fromfrontline workers to global CEOs
(04:08):
.
They consistently rank amongthe world's top providers of
executive education, withresearch-based programs and
solutions including two out ofthree of the Fortune 1000 to
ignite remarkabletransformations.
So I personally, I wasfortunate to participate in a
CCL program in Colorado someyears ago that had a significant
impact on my career.
My particular focus was onreceiving feedback and how to
(04:31):
turn feedback into action plans.
I've recommended a program forthe development of several
leaders over the years, and theyhave their own perspective on
influencing skills for leaders.
So, according to the Center forCreative Leadership, the best
leaders have these four keyinfluencing skills.
The first one organizationalintelligence.
(04:53):
They understand how to getthings done and embrace the
reality of working withinorganizational politics to move
teams and important initiativesforward Team promotion.
Number two Leaders cut throughthe noise and the BS, as we like
to say, to authentically andcredibly promote themselves
Right, john?
(05:13):
Yeah, that's right which alsopromotes what's good for the
entire organization.
We've talked in these podcastsabout trust, so trust building
is a number three influencingskill, because leadership often
involves guiding people throughrisk and change, so trust is so
essential.
And finally, number four,leveraging networks.
(05:36):
No leader is an island.
They can't be out there bythemselves.
They are empowered by theirconnections with others, by
their connections with others.
So let's take these down one byone.
First one, organizationalintelligence.
Savvy leaders view politics asa neutral and necessary part of
organizational life.
We used to say if you don'tthink you're practicing politics
, you are, whether you're doingit consciously or unconsciously,
(05:58):
so you probably ought to do itconsciously.
It can be used constructivelyand ethically to advance
informational aims For a leader.
Political skills in actioncould look something like this
Networking to build socialcapital, including mingling,
strategically Thinking beforeresponding.
How many times have we thoughtgosh?
I wish I would have thoughtbefore I said something.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Wow, and just taking a pause before you engage the
mouth.
It's so important.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
It is indeed, john, it is.
Consider context and goalsbefore deciding when and how to
express their point of view.
How about paying closeattention to nonverbal cues?
We used to call it reading theroom?
Right, yeah, practice activelistening.
Consider how others might feeland find ways to appeal to the
common good not just what you'retrying to put through, but the
(06:45):
common good and then leavingpeople with a good impression
without coming across as tryingtoo hard.
The second one promote yourself.
Promote your tea, and at firstthat sounds a little bit
braggish or selfish.
Right to promote yourself.
But leaders who know how toinfluence people understand that
by promoting themselvesauthentically and for the right
(07:05):
reasons, they can cut throughthe information that bombards us
all each day.
And in the hands of an astuteleader, authentic self-promotion
isn't just a tool to advanceone's own career.
It can provide visibility andopportunities for the people
that report to them.
It can generate team andorganizational pride and make
capabilities and ideas morevisible across the organization,
(07:26):
ultimately enhancingcollaboration and consensus.
John, how about the next two?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
I just want to step back for a second.
The whole thing about politics,the whole thing about how that
really interplays and how yourlistening skills.
A lot of people are lousy attrying to promote themselves and
it's like the worst skill foran engineer.
The engineering types are likewell, you should see it, I did
(07:55):
all these things.
You should know that I didthose things.
You have to do self-promotion.
It really is an important skillset and it's something that
some people are just not.
They don't understand howimportant that really is.
So I'm just going to put astamp on that.
It is huge that people aren'tgoing to do or understand a lot
(08:18):
of what you do unless you putthe effort to try to tell people
the story, give them thebackground, let them understand
the things that you've done.
So let's just continue Tomaintain and to build.
Trust is the foundation Buildingand maintaining a leadership.
Trust is essential.
Without trust, leaders may beable to force people to comply,
(08:43):
and that's not going to get youwhere you want to be.
But they have to be fullycommitted for the capabilities
and the creativity that thegroup can offer.
Leveraging the assets isinvaluable when tracking the
tough challenges and makingstrategic change.
So trust is the key and mostvital element.
(09:05):
People who look for leaders canappreciate the vulnerability
and inspire them, understandthem, support them and guide
them through looming chaos.
It requires a leader todemonstrate a broad range of
expertise and behaviors to beself-reflective.
To be honest, people look forleaders who can anticipate their
(09:29):
vulnerability and inspire them,to understand them, to support
them, to guide them throughlooming chaos.
This requires the leader todemonstrate a broad range of
expertise and behaviors, some ofwhich can be counter to their
normal approach.
They have to use what'sappropriate and timely for that
(09:52):
condition, for that time frame.
To foster trust.
You have to be an open personto understand what they're going
through.
Trust is really involved interms of a careful balance
between pushing people intoareas where they're
uncomfortable, while alsolistening carefully to their
concerns and feedback, among themany balancing acts that they
(10:17):
must work with to maintaintrustworthy leadership, to
negotiate the toughness and theempathy as the individuals
struggle with the transition, asthey understand the urgency,
with patience, as they changethose processes and proceed and
find that success.
(10:39):
The next category is leveragingnetworks.
Finally, a leader whounderstands how to influence
people recognizes and cultivatesthe power of networks.
Organizations are increasinglydynamic.
They morph into size and shapeover time.
Influential leaders have anetwork perspective and
(11:02):
recognize that their personalnetworks must also be dynamic
and growing.
There is also a strategicapproach in terms of choosing
how much and when to tap intothis network.
In terms of choosing how muchand when to tap into this
network and I want to talk aboutnetworks just a little bit
(11:22):
because individuals who do notunderstand networks, I can tell
you right now, there'sorganizations, there's networks
that are out there that areeither based on your industry or
based on a particular craftthat you're doing your
engineering, your, your HR.
You have to extend yourself.
You need to be in networks.
(11:43):
You need that connection If youwant 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 thannothing.
It's really that important.
(12:06):
So the last category isinfluencing people, various by
roles, early in your career oras an individual contributor.
You influence the workingenvironment and the
effectiveness of people overtime, and it's for those people
that may not have authority overit.
(12:30):
Recognizes the ability topresent logical and compelling
arguments, to engage the giveand take when a leader is in the
middle of something thatthey're trying to get a focus on
and trying to develop thesefour skills of influencing
others.
This is how we expand and howwe grow In a senior level, in
(12:50):
executive roles.
Influencing others is moreabout steering the long range
objectives steering, inspiringothers and motivating others to
communicate that vision.
Whenever you are in anorganization, chances are you
want to master these techniquesto influence people, to
(13:10):
influence with one of the fourcore leadership skills we just
discussed, and they're needed inevery role.
These are the cornerstones ofwhat you're looking for in terms
of influence.
Now, greg, I think you have agreat book that both of us have
found helpful in our careers.
Why don't you talk about a veryinteresting person who tried to
(13:33):
document this concept ofinfluencing people from a
leadership perspective?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Thank you, john.
Yes, we're talking about DaleCarnegie the man, the myth, the
legend.
The legend, yes.
So Dale was born into povertyon November 24th 1888 in
Maryville, missouri.
He worked as a travelingsalesman before teaching a
public speaking at a local YMCA.
But he had a seminal self-helpbook.
(14:02):
It was called how to WinFriends and Influence People.
It won him a national followingand enabled him to expand the
Dale Carnegie Institute in thecountries around the world.
He died in 1955 in Queens, newYork.
Now you probably, if you're likemy age or somewhere close,
you'll remember that yellowlettering on this dark book and
(14:25):
black and white picture of MrCarnegie was on everyone's
bookshelf.
Back in the day you didn't haveto be a salesperson necessarily
.
It was about influencing skillsbeyond sales.
So let me tell you about someof the highlights of that book
how to Win Friends and InfluencePeople.
So there were seven key pointsthat Mr Carnegie put together.
The first one don't criticize,don't condemn and don't complain
(14:49):
.
The second one give honest,sincere appreciation.
The third one arouse in theother person an eager to want to
make something happen, to getexcited.
Number four become genuinelyinterested in other people, not
(15:13):
casually interested, butgenuinely, authentically
interested in other folks.
Number five always comes to mymind.
My boss at a meeting texted meonce at an important meeting and
he said to do this, this issmile.
It was interesting at thatmeeting.
I felt pressure and it came outof my face.
I'm glad we had textingcapabilities and his text made
me smile, but smiling is reallyimportant.
How you can help you influencepeople made me smile, but
smiling is really important.
(15:34):
How you can help you influencepeople.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
The smile is also, I think, been defined as the most
common thing in terms ofattracting someone, in terms of
a relationship.
When you see the smile of theother person, it changes the
relationship.
It's a human condition.
(15:59):
So you know, like if you'resitting in a meeting and you
can't smile, unless you'rereally telling a company's
folding next week, you should besmiling.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Number six remember that a person's name to that
person is the sweetest and mostimportant sound in any language.
And if you can remember theirname, just a first name, last
name, it's golden.
Right, it's golden.
It's hard to do, but it isgolden.
And then the last one, numberseven be a good listener.
(16:27):
Don't just go through themotions.
Be an authentically goodlistener.
Now, most of you have heardabout Warren Buffett, right?
He actually took the DaleCarnegie course many, many, many
years ago of how to win friendsand influence people, when he
was 20 years old, so a veryyoung Mr Buffett, and to this
day he has the diploma for thatcourse in his office.
(16:48):
That's how powerful it was tohim.
All right, John, any leadersthat you can think of that are
known for being greatinfluencers.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
She is the co-founder of Huffington Post, the founder
and CEO of Thrive Global andhas written 15 books and is
truly a leader.
Sir Richard Charles Branson,the English business magnate who
co-founded the Virgin Groupback in the 1970s.
Branson expressed his desire tobecome an entrepreneur at a
very young age and has multiplecompanies that he has now
founded over time, so a trueinfluencer.
(17:42):
And then Medina F Emerson,known as the small biz lady, is
one of America's leading smallbusiness experts.
Her expertise includes smallbusiness startups, business
development and social marketing, and these are all influencers
that have influenced the marketitself.
(18:04):
And probably one of my favoriteinfluencers is Dwight D
Eisenhower, and the quote that,I think, says it all for me.
You don't lead by hittingpeople over the head.
That's assault, not leadership.
There's no way that you can getpeople to actually follow you.
(18:32):
Like he did in World War II,when he was actually talking
about D-Day, he went out andwalked the lines of the people
who were going To his mind.
A lot of them were never goingto come back.
Leadership was standing therewith them and understanding
completely the risk that theywere taking.
That is a leader, and he's awonderful example.
(18:54):
Greg, I think you have a littlebit more on that.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Thanks, john.
Yes, there was an influencingCEO board member whatever you
want to call them, the highestlevels of leadership I had a
chance to interact with sometime ago.
He was a senior executiveleader.
I met him first by reputation.
So the company I went to he hadbeen away from for a couple of
years.
He'd moved on and I had onephone call conversation where I
got introduced to him.
But I'd never otherwise met him.
(19:21):
But he was universally respectedand admired throughout the
company I was working for, notjust at the highest heights of
leadership in the C-suite, buteven the folks in the mailroom,
the janitorial staff.
They knew who this person was.
He had that kind of an impacton them.
He was well known for leavingpeople with a good impression
without coming across trying toohard.
(19:42):
It was very natural, it wasvery casual for him.
He demonstrated trust andshowed a careful balance between
pushing people into areas wherethey might have felt a little
uncomfortable, while alsolistening carefully to their
concerns and feedback.
He was purposeful aboutchoosing how and when to tap
into various networks, as Johntalked about, throughout the
organization and outside of theorganization.
(20:04):
This was an individual that justhad an incredible wit, had a
smile, remembered your name ayear later and employees
remembered their conversationswith him like they had just
talked to him the day before,although it had been probably a
year since they'd had aconversation with him.
He also had a light Southernaccent.
It probably didn't hurt thecharm, right.
(20:24):
But when I think of influenceskills, he's the kind of person
that said, hey, would you dothis for me?
And you wanted to work for him.
You wanted to deliver, youwanted to make things happen.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
That's how he made you feel as an employee of the
organization and he actuallymade you feel like you were on
the same level of went back tomy high school days and I had a
teacher who was a Christianbrother.
I went to an all-boys school,so it has its own dynamics and I
(21:11):
always get a tickle out of howthe Christian brothers handled
their conversations.
So they were very direct and tothe point.
There wasn't a lot of fluffwith a Christian brother and
this particular brother was veryinfluential in my life.
But when I was probably downthe most and I was confused in
(21:32):
terms of what I wanted to docareer, business-wise, trying to
find a way to support myself helistened to what I had to say
and he said John, the thingsthat are built, that you want to
go into the mechanical side,the engineering side, they're
all made by men, and men are nomore intelligent or influential
(21:57):
than yourself.
You have the capacity tounderstand what men and other
people make in the real world.
Just have the confidence thatyou're going to be able to
figure it out.
Well, those simple words ofthere's nothing really beyond
your capacity to understandstayed with me, that whole piece
(22:18):
of challenging my career andmoving from one industry or one
particular approach to acompletely different.
I went from manufacturing tohealthcare to higher education
and those words from thatChristian brother was probably
the most influential in my younglife.
(22:39):
To understand that it's notbeyond my capacity Do I have to
learn?
Sure, Is it beyond my capacityto learn?
No, Greg's influential leaderthat just kind of took over the
room and helped an industry, aswell as, for me, an influential
(23:00):
leader that helped theindividual to see beyond those
restrictions and those thingsthat are holding them back, to
think beyond it and to be ableto grow.
We have those all through ourlives.
The key is to hear them, tolisten, because there are
influential people that can helpyou.
But if you're not listening,there's a core problem and I
(23:22):
think if you look back at a lotof our podcasts, you'll see a
constant theme of you have to bean active listener, Probably
one of the core requirements tounderstand how to be a
responsible leader.
So, if you like what you'veheard, my book and e-book and
(23:43):
audio book and whatever kind ofbook that you can think of is
available at Amazoncom and on mywebsite, AuthorJWcom, so give
it a look.
The podcast is available onApple and Google and Spotify and
whatever it is that you're on,and thank you for listening.
We appreciate it Again.
(24:12):
Dr Durst and his MBR program.
A lot of what we talk about onour program is available on
successgrowthacademycom and themusic 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 becauseof the input that we get and we
do appreciate your participation.
It's a lot of fun for Greg andI, so I just wanted to say thank
(24:35):
you again.
So, Greg, thanks.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Thanks, John, as always.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Next time yeah.
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.
Today we're going to be talkingabout the influential skills of
a manager how do you influencepeople, and the mechanics of
(00:42):
what that really means.
So, not to confuse theinfluencer kind of mentality
that we always hear about socialmedia, it's today, in the world
of influencers it is mentioned,that people quickly think of
social media influencers astheir first reference.
A social media influencer is auser on social media who has an
(01:04):
established credibility in aspecific industry.
These content generators haveaccess to large audiences and
share information to persuadeothers and to derive social
media engagement in terms oftheir authenticity and their
reach.
Now, that's something differentin terms of what it means to be
an influencer in terms ofskills for a manager.
(01:26):
This podcast is not about socialinfluencers.
It's about people.
It's about individuals who haveactually influenced your life.
Remember the old book title howto win friends and influence
people by Dale Carnegie?
It's a classic read and thingsthat top salespeople would have
to read to understand theindustry.
More about that book later.
(01:49):
This episode is going over andfocusing on the influencing
skills for leaders and what itmeans to be a more effective
leader.
The definition of aninfluencer's skill is to
reference the ability for aleader to shape the opinions,
the attitudes and behaviors ofothers within their organization
(02:13):
, encouraging them to besupportive, to be actively
participating in achieving thegoals.
You know to take ownership.
You know to take ownershipoften to persuade communication,
(02:40):
to be active listeners, tounderstand individual needs and
to rely solely on their positionof the authority is not the key
, but is the part of authoritythat helps them to influence.
The relationship between powerand influence is very easy to
confuse.
Power is the ability and thecapacity to bring people along,
for them to understand thetravel that they're trying to
(03:01):
lead.
It often leads to resentmentbecause there's that pushback
against power.
Now, an influencer has theability to modify a person in
terms of how they develop andbehave and think.
In relationship to persuasion,instead of telling, they're
asking.
They're trying to bring theperson in and it often leads to
(03:21):
respect.
It also leads to people tounderstand that this opportunity
, this thing that you're tryingto influence the person, has to
come from them, not from theinfluencer.
In order for that message to bereceived, they need to
understand it and you need tobring them along.
That's the secret, greg.
(03:43):
I think you have a differentway of trying to capture this
concept.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Thanks, John, I had an opportunity to spend some
time with an organization calledthe Center for Creative
Leadership, affectionately knownas CCL, and this organization
drives to create a ripple effectof positive change, and it
underpins everything.
They do so.
For over 50 years theypioneered leadership development
solutions for everyone, fromfrontline workers to global CEOs
(04:08):
.
They consistently rank amongthe world's top providers of
executive education, withresearch-based programs and
solutions including two out ofthree of the Fortune 1000 to
ignite remarkabletransformations.
So I personally, I wasfortunate to participate in a
CCL program in Colorado someyears ago that had a significant
impact on my career.
My particular focus was onreceiving feedback and how to
(04:31):
turn feedback into action plans.
I've recommended a program forthe development of several
leaders over the years, and theyhave their own perspective on
influencing skills for leaders.
So, according to the Center forCreative Leadership, the best
leaders have these four keyinfluencing skills.
The first one organizationalintelligence.
(04:53):
They understand how to getthings done and embrace the
reality of working withinorganizational politics to move
teams and important initiativesforward Team promotion.
Number two Leaders cut throughthe noise and the BS, as we like
to say, to authentically andcredibly promote themselves
Right, john?
(05:13):
Yeah, that's right which alsopromotes what's good for the
entire organization.
We've talked in these podcastsabout trust, so trust building
is a number three influencingskill, because leadership often
involves guiding people throughrisk and change, so trust is so
essential.
And finally, number four,leveraging networks.
(05:36):
No leader is an island.
They can't be out there bythemselves.
They are empowered by theirconnections with others, by
their connections with others.
So let's take these down one byone.
First one, organizationalintelligence.
Savvy leaders view politics asa neutral and necessary part of
organizational life.
We used to say if you don'tthink you're practicing politics
, you are, whether you're doingit consciously or unconsciously,
(05:58):
so you probably ought to do itconsciously.
It can be used constructivelyand ethically to advance
informational aims For a leader.
Political skills in actioncould look something like this
Networking to build socialcapital, including mingling,
strategically Thinking beforeresponding.
How many times have we thoughtgosh?
I wish I would have thoughtbefore I said something.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Wow, and just taking a pause before you engage the
mouth.
It's so important.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
It is indeed, john, it is.
Consider context and goalsbefore deciding when and how to
express their point of view.
How about paying closeattention to nonverbal cues?
We used to call it reading theroom?
Right, yeah, practice activelistening.
Consider how others might feeland find ways to appeal to the
common good not just what you'retrying to put through, but the
(06:45):
common good and then leavingpeople with a good impression
without coming across as tryingtoo hard.
The second one promote yourself.
Promote your tea, and at firstthat sounds a little bit
braggish or selfish.
Right to promote yourself.
But leaders who know how toinfluence people understand that
by promoting themselvesauthentically and for the right
(07:05):
reasons, they can cut throughthe information that bombards us
all each day.
And in the hands of an astuteleader, authentic self-promotion
isn't just a tool to advanceone's own career.
It can provide visibility andopportunities for the people
that report to them.
It can generate team andorganizational pride and make
capabilities and ideas morevisible across the organization,
(07:26):
ultimately enhancingcollaboration and consensus.
John, how about the next two?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
I just want to step back for a second.
The whole thing about politics,the whole thing about how that
really interplays and how yourlistening skills.
A lot of people are lousy attrying to promote themselves and
it's like the worst skill foran engineer.
The engineering types are likewell, you should see it, I did
(07:55):
all these things.
You should know that I didthose things.
You have to do self-promotion.
It really is an important skillset and it's something that
some people are just not.
They don't understand howimportant that really is.
So I'm just going to put astamp on that.
It is huge that people aren'tgoing to do or understand a lot
(08:18):
of what you do unless you putthe effort to try to tell people
the story, give them thebackground, let them understand
the things that you've done.
So let's just continue Tomaintain and to build.
Trust is the foundation Buildingand maintaining a leadership.
Trust is essential.
Without trust, leaders may beable to force people to comply,
(08:43):
and that's not going to get youwhere you want to be.
But they have to be fullycommitted for the capabilities
and the creativity that thegroup can offer.
Leveraging the assets isinvaluable when tracking the
tough challenges and makingstrategic change.
So trust is the key and mostvital element.
(09:05):
People who look for leaders canappreciate the vulnerability
and inspire them, understandthem, support them and guide
them through looming chaos.
It requires a leader todemonstrate a broad range of
expertise and behaviors to beself-reflective.
To be honest, people look forleaders who can anticipate their
(09:29):
vulnerability and inspire them,to understand them, to support
them, to guide them throughlooming chaos.
This requires the leader todemonstrate a broad range of
expertise and behaviors, some ofwhich can be counter to their
normal approach.
They have to use what'sappropriate and timely for that
(09:52):
condition, for that time frame.
To foster trust.
You have to be an open personto understand what they're going
through.
Trust is really involved interms of a careful balance
between pushing people intoareas where they're
uncomfortable, while alsolistening carefully to their
concerns and feedback, among themany balancing acts that they
(10:17):
must work with to maintaintrustworthy leadership, to
negotiate the toughness and theempathy as the individuals
struggle with the transition, asthey understand the urgency,
with patience, as they changethose processes and proceed and
find that success.
(10:39):
The next category is leveragingnetworks.
Finally, a leader whounderstands how to influence
people recognizes and cultivatesthe power of networks.
Organizations are increasinglydynamic.
They morph into size and shapeover time.
Influential leaders have anetwork perspective and
(11:02):
recognize that their personalnetworks must also be dynamic
and growing.
There is also a strategicapproach in terms of choosing
how much and when to tap intothis network.
In terms of choosing how muchand when to tap into this
network and I want to talk aboutnetworks just a little bit
(11:22):
because individuals who do notunderstand networks, I can tell
you right now, there'sorganizations, there's networks
that are out there that areeither based on your industry or
based on a particular craftthat you're doing your
engineering, your, your HR.
You have to extend yourself.
You need to be in networks.
(11:43):
You need that connection If youwant 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 thannothing.
It's really that important.
(12:06):
So the last category isinfluencing people, various by
roles, early in your career oras an individual contributor.
You influence the workingenvironment and the
effectiveness of people overtime, and it's for those people
that may not have authority overit.
(12:30):
Recognizes the ability topresent logical and compelling
arguments, to engage the giveand take when a leader is in the
middle of something thatthey're trying to get a focus on
and trying to develop thesefour skills of influencing
others.
This is how we expand and howwe grow In a senior level, in
(12:50):
executive roles.
Influencing others is moreabout steering the long range
objectives steering, inspiringothers and motivating others to
communicate that vision.
Whenever you are in anorganization, chances are you
want to master these techniquesto influence people, to
(13:10):
influence with one of the fourcore leadership skills we just
discussed, and they're needed inevery role.
These are the cornerstones ofwhat you're looking for in terms
of influence.
Now, greg, I think you have agreat book that both of us have
found helpful in our careers.
Why don't you talk about a veryinteresting person who tried to
(13:33):
document this concept ofinfluencing people from a
leadership perspective?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Thank you, john.
Yes, we're talking about DaleCarnegie the man, the myth, the
legend.
The legend, yes.
So Dale was born into povertyon November 24th 1888 in
Maryville, missouri.
He worked as a travelingsalesman before teaching a
public speaking at a local YMCA.
But he had a seminal self-helpbook.
(14:02):
It was called how to WinFriends and Influence People.
It won him a national followingand enabled him to expand the
Dale Carnegie Institute in thecountries around the world.
He died in 1955 in Queens, newYork.
Now you probably, if you're likemy age or somewhere close,
you'll remember that yellowlettering on this dark book and
(14:25):
black and white picture of MrCarnegie was on everyone's
bookshelf.
Back in the day you didn't haveto be a salesperson necessarily
.
It was about influencing skillsbeyond sales.
So let me tell you about someof the highlights of that book
how to Win Friends and InfluencePeople.
So there were seven key pointsthat Mr Carnegie put together.
The first one don't criticize,don't condemn and don't complain
(14:49):
.
The second one give honest,sincere appreciation.
The third one arouse in theother person an eager to want to
make something happen, to getexcited.
Number four become genuinelyinterested in other people, not
(15:13):
casually interested, butgenuinely, authentically
interested in other folks.
Number five always comes to mymind.
My boss at a meeting texted meonce at an important meeting and
he said to do this, this issmile.
It was interesting at thatmeeting.
I felt pressure and it came outof my face.
I'm glad we had textingcapabilities and his text made
me smile, but smiling is reallyimportant.
How you can help you influencepeople made me smile, but
smiling is really important.
(15:34):
How you can help you influencepeople.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
The smile is also, I think, been defined as the most
common thing in terms ofattracting someone, in terms of
a relationship.
When you see the smile of theother person, it changes the
relationship.
It's a human condition.
(15:59):
So you know, like if you'resitting in a meeting and you
can't smile, unless you'rereally telling a company's
folding next week, you should besmiling.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Number six remember that a person's name to that
person is the sweetest and mostimportant sound in any language.
And if you can remember theirname, just a first name, last
name, it's golden.
Right, it's golden.
It's hard to do, but it isgolden.
And then the last one, numberseven be a good listener.
(16:27):
Don't just go through themotions.
Be an authentically goodlistener.
Now, most of you have heardabout Warren Buffett, right?
He actually took the DaleCarnegie course many, many, many
years ago of how to win friendsand influence people, when he
was 20 years old, so a veryyoung Mr Buffett, and to this
day he has the diploma for thatcourse in his office.
(16:48):
That's how powerful it was tohim.
All right, John, any leadersthat you can think of that are
known for being greatinfluencers.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
She is the co-founder of Huffington Post, the founder
and CEO of Thrive Global andhas written 15 books and is
truly a leader.
Sir Richard Charles Branson,the English business magnate who
co-founded the Virgin Groupback in the 1970s.
Branson expressed his desire tobecome an entrepreneur at a
very young age and has multiplecompanies that he has now
founded over time, so a trueinfluencer.
(17:42):
And then Medina F Emerson,known as the small biz lady, is
one of America's leading smallbusiness experts.
Her expertise includes smallbusiness startups, business
development and social marketing, and these are all influencers
that have influenced the marketitself.
(18:04):
And probably one of my favoriteinfluencers is Dwight D
Eisenhower, and the quote that,I think, says it all for me.
You don't lead by hittingpeople over the head.
That's assault, not leadership.
There's no way that you can getpeople to actually follow you.
(18:32):
Like he did in World War II,when he was actually talking
about D-Day, he went out andwalked the lines of the people
who were going To his mind.
A lot of them were never goingto come back.
Leadership was standing therewith them and understanding
completely the risk that theywere taking.
That is a leader, and he's awonderful example.
(18:54):
Greg, I think you have a littlebit more on that.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Thanks, john.
Yes, there was an influencingCEO board member whatever you
want to call them, the highestlevels of leadership I had a
chance to interact with sometime ago.
He was a senior executiveleader.
I met him first by reputation.
So the company I went to he hadbeen away from for a couple of
years.
He'd moved on and I had onephone call conversation where I
got introduced to him.
But I'd never otherwise met him.
(19:21):
But he was universally respectedand admired throughout the
company I was working for, notjust at the highest heights of
leadership in the C-suite, buteven the folks in the mailroom,
the janitorial staff.
They knew who this person was.
He had that kind of an impacton them.
He was well known for leavingpeople with a good impression
without coming across trying toohard.
(19:42):
It was very natural, it wasvery casual for him.
He demonstrated trust andshowed a careful balance between
pushing people into areas wherethey might have felt a little
uncomfortable, while alsolistening carefully to their
concerns and feedback.
He was purposeful aboutchoosing how and when to tap
into various networks, as Johntalked about, throughout the
organization and outside of theorganization.
(20:04):
This was an individual that justhad an incredible wit, had a
smile, remembered your name ayear later and employees
remembered their conversationswith him like they had just
talked to him the day before,although it had been probably a
year since they'd had aconversation with him.
He also had a light Southernaccent.
It probably didn't hurt thecharm, right.
(20:24):
But when I think of influenceskills, he's the kind of person
that said, hey, would you dothis for me?
And you wanted to work for him.
You wanted to deliver, youwanted to make things happen.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
That's how he made you feel as an employee of the
organization and he actuallymade you feel like you were on
the same level of went back tomy high school days and I had a
teacher who was a Christianbrother.
I went to an all-boys school,so it has its own dynamics and I
(21:11):
always get a tickle out of howthe Christian brothers handled
their conversations.
So they were very direct and tothe point.
There wasn't a lot of fluffwith a Christian brother and
this particular brother was veryinfluential in my life.
But when I was probably downthe most and I was confused in
(21:32):
terms of what I wanted to docareer, business-wise, trying to
find a way to support myself helistened to what I had to say
and he said John, the thingsthat are built, that you want to
go into the mechanical side,the engineering side, they're
all made by men, and men are nomore intelligent or influential
(21:57):
than yourself.
You have the capacity tounderstand what men and other
people make in the real world.
Just have the confidence thatyou're going to be able to
figure it out.
Well, those simple words ofthere's nothing really beyond
your capacity to understandstayed with me, that whole piece
(22:18):
of challenging my career andmoving from one industry or one
particular approach to acompletely different.
I went from manufacturing tohealthcare to higher education
and those words from thatChristian brother was probably
the most influential in my younglife.
(22:39):
To understand that it's notbeyond my capacity Do I have to
learn?
Sure, Is it beyond my capacityto learn?
No, Greg's influential leaderthat just kind of took over the
room and helped an industry, aswell as, for me, an influential
(23:00):
leader that helped theindividual to see beyond those
restrictions and those thingsthat are holding them back, to
think beyond it and to be ableto grow.
We have those all through ourlives.
The key is to hear them, tolisten, because there are
influential people that can helpyou.
But if you're not listening,there's a core problem and I
(23:22):
think if you look back at a lotof our podcasts, you'll see a
constant theme of you have to bean active listener, Probably
one of the core requirements tounderstand how to be a
responsible leader.
So, if you like what you'veheard, my book and e-book and
(23:43):
audio book and whatever kind ofbook that you can think of is
available at Amazoncom and on mywebsite, AuthorJWcom, so give
it a look.
The podcast is available onApple and Google and Spotify and
whatever it is that you're on,and thank you for listening.
We appreciate it Again.
(24:12):
Dr Durst and his MBR program.
A lot of what we talk about onour program is available on
successgrowthacademycom and themusic 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 becauseof the input that we get and we
do appreciate your participation.
It's a lot of fun for Greg andI, so I just wanted to say thank
(24:35):
you again.
So, Greg, thanks.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Thanks, John, as always.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Next time yeah.
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