The Power of Choice

7Use Influence Skills to Shape Your Reality

THE ULTIMATE AIM of this book is to enable you to shape the reality that's important to you—to proactively and deliberately pursue your goals—rather than have your future determined by the desires and motives of others. Everything I've talked about so far—building confidence, being resilient in the face of temporary setbacks or low expectations, studying the results of your efforts so you can become more effective, clearly identifying your desired outcome, and developing strategic relationships—is critical to your ability to engineer the professional life you desire.

The art of influencing others is so important to managing your career and to expanding your value to your organization that it, too, deserves special focus. This chapter explores how you command trust and respect without provoking fear or resentment. It examines how you become masterful at achieving the outcomes that are important to you and the work you do.

Choose to Be Influential

Making a conscious decision to be more influential is the first step—and often the most difficult. (See Figure 7.1.) When you become someone who shapes the opinions and practices of others, people begin to pay attention to you. You can't hide in the crowd. Others expect you to have an opinion and a strategy for action. They are also more likely to give you pushback on your ideas.

Figure ...