Becoming a Respected Leader

Pat enjoyed the weekend with her out of town guests then took Sunday evening to reflect on what Coach Smith had shared with her regarding the principle of authority and the importance of being viewed as a trusted expert. She knew this would not be an overnight endeavor for two reasons. First, gaining trust takes time. Second, trying to establish yourself as an expert quickly, if not done correctly, could make you seem like a boastful braggart. This principle would take patience and thoughtful application.

As was her habit, Pat arrived at the office about 45 minutes ahead of everyone else on Monday morning. She especially enjoyed the first 30 minutes of the day because it was an opportunity for her to read and think without any interruptions. As she thought about Coach encouraging her to share whatever she was learning and to cite her sources, she silently committed to herself that she would look for every opportunity to do so.

Later in the week she started working on a short bio that could be used as an announcement from her boss in a few weeks once she earned her new designation. It felt awkward for her to write about her own accomplishments but she set the feelings aside and reminded herself, in nearly every case where she read a bio, it had either been written by, or highly edited by, the individual for whom it was about. This was the case with authors, professional speakers, guest lecturers, and many others.

As she thought about this further she began to see other opportunities to reshape the bio so it could be used for other purposes. For example, she occasionally spoke to employee groups and different departments with the company so it could be used as an introduction there. It would also come in handy to introduce her to people outside of the company if she happened to be a guest speaker. She even decided to use it to redo her LinkedIn profile. All of this made her realize the time she was investing on this project would serve multiple purposes which gave more weight to what she was doing.

During her Tuesday meeting with the team she shared what she’d learned from coach around the principle of authority. She did this because she saw an opportunity for her team to leverage the psychology with other departments throughout the company. She suggested that whenever they were making a recommendation around learning, that they share not only supporting information, but also the source of the information.

By the end of the week she’d finished the article for her boss. During her one-on-one meeting with him Friday afternoon she broached the idea of having him use it when she officially got her new designation in a week. She started, “Bill, I have an idea I want to run by you.”

“Shoot,” he replied.

She began, “I’ve been learning a lot about how to influence people’s thinking and behavior over the last month. A trusted mentor suggested I write a short article about myself to use as a company announcement about the Certified Learning Consultant designation I’ll get next week. It’s a big deal and I think it could help promote the corporate university.”

“You wrote the article?” he asked with a curious look on his face.

“I know it sounds weird but think about it; nobody knows me like me. It’s a chance to make sure the most important things get highlighted. I think that’s better than leaving it up to the communications department. Even if you wrote it, that would take time so I thought I’d relieve you of that,” she said with a smile.

Nodding his head, Bill replied, “I like your thought process and that you wanted to save me time, especially with my vacation coming up. Show it to me once it’s complete and, if we’re both in agreement we’ll run with it. How does that sound?”

Feeling like she’d just hit an important jump shot, she leaned over his desk to hand him a piece of paper and said, “I thought you might say that so here’s what I wrote.”

Before she left the office they had made a few revisions and Bill promised to get it to corporate communications for publication as soon as she was officially a CLC.?

That afternoon, as she drove home she felt a huge sense of accomplishment. The time with Coach Smith was transforming her and her department. When she played for him she felt like a totally different player at the end of college and she was feeling the same way about work. She was seeing a difference in how people were responding to her as a leader and it was fulfilling.?

Prior Installments

1. And Now for Something Completely Different
2. Coach’s Lesson on Liking
3. Game Time for Pat
4. Coach’s Lesson on Reciprocity
5. Tis Better to Give
6. A Lesson on Peer Pressure
7. Putting Peer Pressure to Work at Work
8. A Trusted Expert
9. Becoming a Respected Leader

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Brian Ahearn, CPCU, CTM, CPT, CMCT

Brian Ahearn ?is the Chief Influence Officer at?Influence PEOPLE . An?author ,?TEDx speaker , international trainer, coach, and consultant, he’s one of only a dozen people?in the world?personally trained by Robert Cialdini, Ph.D., the most cited living social psychologist on the science of ethical influence.

Brian’s first book,?Influence PEOPLE , was named one of the 100 Best Influence Books of All Time by?BookAuthority . His follow-up,?Persuasive Selling for Relationship Driven Insurance Agents , was an Amazon new release bestseller. His new book,?The Influencer: Secrets to Success and Happiness , is a business parable.

Brian’s?LinkedIn ?courses on persuasive selling and coaching have been viewed by more than 500,000 people around the world.