Where is our influenc? what is power?

Have you heard the tale of Darth Plagueis the Wise? No? That’s not good, you should have. Perhaps if you did know about his tale, you would know that he has more power than you think, then you would know that pushing him into a dark space was not a good idea. You see, when a person that has a good amount of power in a company has little influence, well, its not good. Now imagine Dark Plagueis was a Geek! What I’m trying to say is, Geeks usually have a low amount of influence in the business world, despite the fact that we keep the business  running as much (usually more) than any other type of employee. Want an example? here’s the amount of power a geek holds, and what could happen if you treat them badly.

This is not good for the business world, for specific reasons and in general. As it says in the book, Geeks are often overstepped when decisions that they could help with are made: buy some new software? consult us first! We need a new dataplan? This one should work, install it without us listening to what you think! Ignoring your technologically adept people in a business is a terrible idea, they will have the know how’s relating to specific things that will keep your business afloat. I know that Greenville would not be doing well if they ignored many suggestions from it’s digital media teachers and I.T. workers that alot of equipment around campus needs to be upgraded-oh…..This article also warns against ignoring your IT department, for good reason. It talks about how failed communication in an IT department would lead to frustration and screw up business synergy. Now if it’s so bad if a Geek has little power in a business why do we still have influential problems?

Well for starter’s we don’t know the difference between influence and power. Power is the ability to affect a persons observable behavior. Having the authority and the ability to make a person move is power. Influence is the effect you have on a person’s inner state. example below

In this amaaaazing performance from both actors. This movie shows that while one commander outranks another, he does not have the influence on the crew he needs. The crew turns on him, and works with the captain  that does not wish to launch a nuke. Influence changes people’s decisions making, it changes how they think, thus we can grip them for longer since most people in IT usually don’t have a lot of overarching authority.