A 2-minute hack to radically improve your influencing skills

Business bookshelves are full of weighty tomes on the art of influence. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, first published in 1936, is one of the biggest selling business/personal development books of all time. Robert Caldini probably takes the crown as the modern-day Carnegie with his books Pre-suasion, Influence and Yes. Dan Pink’s books To Sell is Human and Drive get honourable mentions. That’s before we even come to the countless books there are on presentation skills, marketing, sales or negotiation - all of which have influence at their core: Nudge by Thaler & Sunstein, Getting to Yes by Fisher & Ury, or Talk like TED by Gallo are all great examples.

To Lead is to Influence

We’d all like more influence. We'd like people to see things the way we see them. We’d like to influence a decision or an outcome. We'd like our ideas to be understood and appreciated.

If you’re a leader, influence isn’t just something you’d like to have, it’s something you MUST have. Leadership is influence. You can create the most exquisite strategy this world has ever seen, but if people don’t buy into it you’re going nowhere fast.

Whether you’re leading a team, a project, a client, a market, a global brand or a country, your success will be determined by your ability to influence others.

But within the sea of information, guidance and advice available on the art of influence, what’s the single most important thing you can do to improve your influence?

Where do you start?

Let’s do a quick experiment as you read this article.

What’s the first thing you think of when preparing for an important meeting or presentation?

If you said:

• The point I need to make, or
• The information I need to impart

You’re likely missing the mark when it comes to influencing.

If you said:

• The impact I want to create, or
• The purpose of the meeting/presentation

You’re likely doing a better job of influencing your audience.

If you said:

• What I need from my audience and what my audience needs from me.

You’re likely a ninja-level influencer!

Today’s experiment is a super simple, 2-minute hack to radically improve your influencing skills, and it’s about starting with your audience in mind.

Your Leadership Experiment

Think of a meeting, presentation or talk where you need to influence your audience. Ask yourself two questions:

1) What do I need from my audience? What’s the purpose of your presentation/meeting? What do you want your audience to do/feel/have/say at the end of your meeting/presentation? 

2) What does my audience need from me? What do they care about right now? What’s keeping them up at night? What are their aspirations? Why do they care about what you're going to say? What do they hope comes from your presentation/meeting?

Now you can start crafting your message and your key points, this time with your audience in mind. 

It’s a game-changer. Enjoy.