We all want to make an impact on the things that we care about, however humble or grand our ambitions.
If we want to make that impact, we must have influence to get there.
I call this Triple I or ‘Influence Is Impact’.
Think about it.
You might have the best intentions but if you don’t have influence you won’t have an impact. Imagine two people equally passionate about a cause. If one has a small network, level of expertise, personal brand etc. (just a few of the many factors that make up influence) and another person is far advanced in all these areas, who do you think is likely, other things being equal, to have more of an impact?
Just like financial wealth, some people are rich in influence. So I call the influence you have that you can choose to ‘spend’ at times that are important to you ‘influcurrency‘.
In this article on Medium called ‘You Need Influence To Change The World’ I explain more about why you need influence if you are going to make a difference to the world.
You need to ask yourself whether you are happy with the direction the world is going in (or your life is going in).
If yes, with the right level of influence you will be able to make things even better.
If no, then with the right level of influence you will be able to make a change.
Perhaps most importantly, with the right level of influence you will feel like you have some control over your environment. You will no longer be a passive observer of events around you, you will be, in a less extreme version of Walter White’s line, ‘The one who knocks’.
From the earliest days of humanity, influence has been with us, but I believe that it is important like never before. There are a number of reasons why this is the case.
One is that the world is facing challenges like never before. It is only very recently in our history that certain problems, like climate change, have been an issue.
A second is that the world has potential like never before. Not only is the pace of change more rapid, but for the first time ever any person with an internet connection has a real chance to get their ideas out to the world.
A third is that people have the opportunity to make connections with others from all over the world in a way that just wasn’t possible before. Not that long ago people lived and died mainly interacting with their peers in a relatively small area, possibly as small as their village. The skills that they needed to do this effectively were different to the skills we need when we are reaching out to the whole world.
There are many more reasons, which I look forward to exploring with you in my work. For now, I am just trying to explain why I think we are living through what I call ‘The Influence Century’.
The Influence Century is a rewarding, exciting, but also potentially unsettling time, which is why I am so lucky to work on the topic of influence right now and play my part in helping people understand it better.
You can read about these concepts including Triple I, influcurrency and ‘The Influence Century’ in my free, 100-page plus book, ‘How To Become An Influencer’
I speak about the book in this just-published video in the ‘One Minute Influence’ Series:
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.