Power/Influence

Power and influence are different in many ways and people do not seem to realize it. It is much easier to have power than to have influence. Power can be given to someone easily. One can be born into a family of power or given power in a job whether it is deserved or not. Power has been around since the beginning of time. Some people strive for power their whole lives thinking it is the ultimate goal. It is so easy to have power over someone and make them do something. If you have power of them of course they will do what you want because they HAVE to. If you yell at your dog and tell it to get in the kennel, it does it because of power. You can have influence on your dog by teaching it to pee outside or how to play fetch. You influence the dog into a realization of something else.

This video is a  scene from the Crimson Tide movie. This scene is a prime example of what power is. This is a great clip to learn a lot from:

There are people that have power all over the world. There is power in every single work place, classroom, family, and more. There is power EVERYWHERE. It is what people do with the power that is important. It is how they use the power to influence the ones they have power over.

My whole life I have had people with power over me and I always will. That is just how life goes. I have had people abuse their power over me and i have had people who use their power to influence me.

My dad has been a great influence in my life. As i was growing up him and i did not get along very well because he was very hard on me. He expected the best from me and did not expect any less. When i say the best of me, i do not mean whether i hit a home run or not in baseball or something like this. He held me to a high standard for my attitude. I have been grounded for “having a bad attitude” more times than i can remember. As a kid i did not understand and it was really hard to get along with my father. But as i have grown older, i understood what he was doing. He had a set way he wanted to raise me like and wanted to influence me to become the best man i could be. He did not care if i liked him, he just cared that i was becoming a good man. A man of integrity, who loved others. He influenced me in many ways and I love him greatly for it. Instead of him just caring what i thought of him at the time, he made sure he influenced me the right way. He is a great dad and i would not change him for the world.

a great read on influence: here

So overall, people need to remember, having power can be a great thing and something to be achieved. But it is what one does with the power that is in important. Influence is the key to being a good leader. How one influences the ones they are in charge of, reflects their leadership.

“Gandhi had power, but he had none of the means we usually associate with power: wealth, official position, military might. His power was based solely on the willingness of people to follow his lead. They were willing to serve him because his life was devoted to serving them.” ~ Keshavan Nair, A Higher Standard of Leadership

interesting read by forbes: here