When looking to be at your influential best, work hard to identify as many people around you who can benefit. By thinking hard about what your idea or goal will yield for others, you can find other people who will be able to add tangible support for what you are aiming to achieve. Often, we focus on what the achievement will do for us and fail to look more broadly at what it will mean for other people. By being creative and looking at things from a broad perspective, you are likely to find other people who have influence and can then work to get them excited about the benefits of supporting you.
Thinking about the benefits in broad terms will help you to gain more widespread support which can make your proposal a “no brainer” and greatly reduces the accusation that you are looking after number one.
Taking action on this secret…
- Pick six people who are not directly associated with your influencing goal.
- For each, think through how your success will change their work/lives.
- Focus on what will be positive for them.
- Meet up and discuss what you are doing and check with them how they will benefit.
- Talk with your friends and get their views on how your work will affect other people.
- Link your goal to other people’s goals wherever possible.
And remember, the more people you can get supporting you, the less powerful the opposition becomes.
