Success for any organization, whether it be a corporation, not-for-profit, or municipality, ultimately boils down to the ability to motivate or influence people to actively and happily engage with a particular product, service, project, or cause.
This doesn’t sound like rocket science, yet there must be a catch to it because organizational success spans a wide continuum beginning with complete failure and terminating at the point of unprecedented triumph. If a group or individual’s success is largely dependent on the ability to motivate or influence others, then it stands to reason that there exists an equally wide continuum for degrees of influence. As leaders, we are accountable for the success of the organizations we represent, the employees we supervise, and the causes we champion. Therefore, it is imperative that we understand what it takes to be as influential as possible.
The organizations and people for whom influence seems to come naturally place a higher priority on certain activities and behaviors than do their less influential counterparts. Although I plan to spend a great deal of time on this blog discussing all aspects of influence, I thought it would be helpful to share an article about the first few of the activities and behaviors crucial to the process of crossing over from the “not so influential” end of the spectrum to the “highly influential” side of life. Consider it a crash course in “C.I.T”–read the article to find out what I mean and then share your ideas by commenting here.
Saying What You Mean 