What type of influence is relevant in today's world?
I was interviewed by Nathan Anibaba of Bridge Network on Influencing. I was passionate about doing this interview because I largely think ‘influencing’ is an old-world concept.
In the old world, we influence others to get what we want. This is manipulative. We also often use our power to influence people. Power comes from the resources you have, or the authority of your role.
But in the new world, this is no longer valid. We don’t do as we’re told just because the person with authority says. We are far more likely to question and use our own agency. Nowadays we realise people are free to think and do what they want.
The aim now is to influence people by engaging them. And we engage people by sharing our message authentically and transparently, and in the process by building trust and credibility in what we say, what we do and how we do it.
Trust and credibility is the new currency. Authority is less valid especially if we use it poorly.
