3 Reasons To Go Beyond Influence To Create Positive Impact In Your Career

Influence is an undisputed leadership asset in the professional world.

Whether in a boardroom or at a client pitch, your ability to defend your ideas and persuade others that they matter can make or break your career.

The best leaders do it in an ethical way, following what Robert Cialdini, author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, calls the seven Universal Principles of Persuasion. Here they are, along with a way to implement each:

1. Reciprocation: We feel obligated to give back to others something we’ve received first. Give before you ask by first providing value and serving, not selling.
2. Liking: We’re more influenced by the people we like and who are like us. To up your likability factor, practice kindness and offer compliments while highlighting similarities and increasing familiarity through repeated interactions and positive associations.
3. Social Proof: We determine what is correct by finding out what other people think is correct. Don’t tell people you’re amazing; have your happy clients and customers advocate for you on your behalf.
4. Authority: We defer to those authorities we perceive as both expert and trustworthy. The more you can position yourself as a credible expert, the more likely people will follow your lead. 
5. Scarcity: We assign more value to less available things. When trying to persuade people about your idea, it’s not enough to explain why it’s unique and the benefits they’ll gain; you’ll also need to point out what they stand to lose if they pass. 
6. Commitment and Consistency: We like to be and look consistent within our words, beliefs, attitudes, and deeds, and after making a commitment, we are more willing to agree to requests in keeping with the prior commitment. Simple reminders of an earlier commitment can guide future behavior, strengthening someone’s resolve to remain consistent. 
7. Unity: We say yes to those we consider one of us. Create opportunities to bring people together through shared experiences and co-creation. 

While actively working on your influence is admirable, there’s something even more valuable you should seek: making a positive impact.

Though related, influence and impact have a subtle yet meaningful difference.

Influencing someone means you’re able to persuade them without exerting force or change them in an indirect but usually important way.

When you positively impact someone, you make a deep impression, an effect so strong that it can affect their mindset or trajectory of their life or career.

Said another way, the greater the influence, the more likely it will create impact.

Here are three reasons to go beyond influence to create positive impact in your career:

1. It has the power to change lives.

As a leader, you can’t make an impact without first influencing someone. And when your impact is so strong that it fundamentally changes the course of someone’s life for good, it becomes a catalyst for their transformation.

2. It’s contagious.

Making a positive impact has the beautiful consequence of affecting more than its original recipient. When someone is positively impacted, they’re more inclined to share that good energy with others, who pass it along to even more people, keeping the wave of impact going.

3. It becomes your legacy.

Influence can be fleeting, but impact lives on long after you’re gone. When you go out of your way to create a positive impact, your efforts will forever be associated with you, solidifying your legacy as a leader who cares for others.

In a world where many aspire to be “influencers,” the savviest leaders strive for something even more significant: making a positive impact.

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When I'm not actively creating momentum (this newsletter and the other kind), I'm a social media ghostwriter. (Yep, that's a thing.) I help founders craft their stories to communicate and connect better, magnifying their reach and impact. (Think personal branding and thought leadership.) Contact me if you'd like my help.