6 Ways to Build Your Influence & Leadership

So, you want to build your influence, thought leadership and business? Glamorous selfies along with quotes said by other people will do absolutely nothing to help you build any of that.

If you want to build real influence, show people your mind – not your selfie.

Instead, show people how you think, what you think, and how those thoughts can make a difference. Seek to influence others by adding value, instead of trying to be an influencer.

Every successful and influential person I know didn’t set out to be influential. They set out to make a difference.

Too many people are chasing the wrong outcome – you cannot be an influencer, or an expert in your space, without having influence or expertise. You cannot demonstrate that influence and expertise, using other people’s words and glamour shots of you.

You need to step up and instead, focus on how you can help others.

6 Practical Ways To Build Your Influence

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Spend time thinking.

   Ask yourself, who do you want to help? How can you help them? Do you actually know what kind of expert you want to become and what influence you want to have on the world?

2. Write every single week, if not every single day.

   Write great content and do it for years. Not for a month, or a quarter – you must do it for years. Influence and expertise are built over time and through consistency. Not overnight. (Sorry not sorry for breaking it to you)

3. Read all the time. 

   Leaders are readers. When you read, you mastermind with the author and can springboard off your thoughts to create content that is valuable for others. The more you know, the better you do and the more credibility you end up establishing.

4. Hang out with other smart people. 

   If you’re always the smartest person in the room, you need to change who you spend time with. Find ways to upgrade your peer group and spend time with the kinds of people you aspire to be like. Their thoughts, attitudes and behaviours will rub off on you.

5. Stop chasing approval.

   True influence comes not from being attached to the responses and or opinions of others. It needs to come from within. If you’re always seeking likes, validation and approval from those you hope to influence, you’ll have a self-confidence problem. You’ll need to fix that first before you get anywhere.

6. Create your own metrics. 

   Too often, people aspire to be like other “influencers” they see without really knowing what is going on in their business. True influencers don’t make income statements to prove their success, true influencers are too busy doing the work of making an impact to care how many followers they have on Instagram. The metrics you should measure are your bottom line results – not the vanity metrics of a social media world.

Now Go, And Build

As you step into a new year, a new month and a new decade – take these six tips to heart. Do something about them. Don’t just read over these words – do the work.

Leadership and influence are built over time, just like Rome. If you’re here to make a difference and leave a legacy, keep showing up. Keep putting these steps into practice.

Show people your mind, not your selfie.

Which one of these 6 steps is the hardest for you to tackle? Tell us in the comments below.