Under the Influence
The art of persuasion. Mankind has been skillfully honing this ability for as long as we have been around. Crafting and shaping the minds of individuals into doing their bidding or joining their ranks. Just look at all the influential people who have walked this earth. Adolf Hitler with his Nazi army leading thousands of soldiers and people to believing that Aryan race was the superior race and that everyone else was beneath them. Or positive influential work done by that of Martin Luther King Jr. with his peace movement promoting racial equality for not only the African American race but for all humans alike.
So how do we influence other people? Here is a video explaining a few steps in learning how influence others.
Like the video said, people with power need other people who don’t need them. Honestly, we do not really need those powerful people in order to do everyday tasks. However, in order for those people to have the level of power they do, they certainly need other people to help them get up there and stay up there.
Were all used to seeing those high horsed suits on top. But what about the big business geeks who are on top? We usually don’t see them. So what can geeks do in order to gain that level of power some of the business suits have? According to Forbes magazine there are five steps to increase your power.
Five Steps to Increase Your Influence
1. Asserting: you insist that your ideas are heard and you challenge the ideas of others
2. Convincing: you put forward your ideas and offer logical, rational reasons to convince others of your point of view
3. Negotiating: you look for compromises and make concessions to reach outcomes that satisfy your greater interest
4. Bridging: you build relationships and connect with others through listening understanding and building coalitions
5. Inspiring: you advocate your position and encourage others with a sense of shared purpose and exciting possibilities
I for one have never been big on trying to influence others. I have always kept to myself and let people go about their ways. People such as my friends and family have played big roles in influencing me and my behavior along with my interests, yet I still keep my individuality. One important role of influence is my religious background. What I believe in has been shaped and molded by my friends in the church and my family who has a very rich background in the field of ministry. My father along with his father and his father before that were all ministers who traveled the world to preach God’s word. This alone, and me being raised in this culture has shaped me into the Christian I am today. My grandfather has survived religious warfare and had to actually escape his home country to flee to America. So my background is pretty intense and that is something I take pride in.
To close this blog, I want to share a quote of one of my dear friends Alexander aka “Mr. Handsome” Dowley.
“Influence, not everyone can have it.”
In a nutshell, this means that some people are just not meant to be influential people. What he means is, is that people don’t just gain power. They work for it. Years of honing manipulative skills and practice are what help to get people on your side. To gain power to you need an army, to gain an army you need influence. To gain influence, you need to be kind and know how people operate and shape yourself in a way that allows people to want to follow you. So for all the geeks out there, learn how to hack the system that is the human mind.