Becoming a Person of Influence

In John Maxwell’s book “Becoming a Person of Influence,” he said that to be successful in anything, you need to be a person of influence. Without influence, there is no success and I completely agree. He quoted the saying, “Every man is a hero and an oracle to somebody.” Right now, each one of us is an influencer. In everything that we do, at least one person is affected by it. No matter what our goals are in life, the contribution that we intend to make can be longer lasting if we learn how to become a person of influence.

If you are the head of a family, your family members will follow you if you have a positive influence on them. If you are a coach, the team will experience more victories if you are able to translate your goals to them through the influence that you have. If you are a manager, the organization will commit to its targets if you influence them to see their tasks to completion.

How do you then become a person of influence? You may gauge yourself by looking at the four stages of influence as stated in the book.

1. Modeling
2. Motivation
3. Mentoring
4. Multiplication

I’ll be giving my insights on these stages in light of my being an employee in the succeeding entries of my blog. For the mean time, allow me to leave you with these questions – knowing that you are an influencer to at least one significant person in your life, are you taking advantage of this influence to raise the level of your contribution to other people? How are you adding more value to the lives of other people through your influence?