Why Do People Influence Others?

Written by Dave Rothacker on December 2, 2021

Have you ever worked for someone and thought, “I’d go through a brick wall for them.”

Have you ever read a biography of someone that caused you to make a shift in your life?

Have you ever bought something based on the recommendation of another?

If you’ve experienced any or all of these, you’ve been influenced by someone.

We quoted John Maxwell yesterday, “Leadership is Influence.” For today, let’s focus on the influence part. Why are some people influential and others are not?

In his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Maxwell cites seven different reasons. We’ll look at three here.

Character - Who they are - The ability to influence begins internally. People can sense character. They’ll see right through someone whose actions do not match their words.

Relationships - Who they know - People follow those who’ve taken the time to build a relationship with them.

Knowledge - What they know - A leader needs to know the organization’s dynamic factors, timing and a vision for the future.

Think about those you follow in the home service industries. Ask yourself why do I follow them? People are asking the same question about you.

I will be launching (at least) two John Maxwell masterminds in January. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and Developing the Leader Within You 2.0. Each is based on a Maxwell book by the same name. I recommend reading the book(s) in December.

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - The book in which to begin building your leadership foundation on. As we’ve seen here, every person in your company is in need of fundamental leadership education. Go here to sign up.

Developing the Leader Within 2.0 - I recommend this mastermind if you’ve already taken The 21 Irrefutable Laws mastermind. Go here to sign up.