The Transformational Leader

6The Influence Factor: Projecting Influence Without Authority

Leadership is influence. To the extent we influence others, we lead them.

—Charles Swindoll

CONSIDER THIS SCENARIO: after a year in your role, you are assigned to lead a team project with 15 colleagues from your department. Although you want to prove yourself, worry and self-doubt emerge. You think, “I don't hold a management title, and many on my team have been here far longer; why would they listen to me?” These negative, demeaning thoughts get louder each day until they eventually creep in at night, leaving you wide awake.

Instead of sleeping, you stare at the ceiling, telling yourself, “You've never led a team, let alone managed an entire project. You don't have what it takes, and everybody knows it.”

Whether or not you've experienced something similar, there will come a point when you must project authority and influence. Here are some examples:

• As a parent, you're responsible for acting as an authority figure, especially during your children's formative years, and influencing and guiding them as they develop positive habits they'll need as adults.
• As an athletic coach, you influence how players see the world and help them shift from being self-serving to developing a team-first mentality.
• As an educator, fostering and shaping a student's love of learning is critical; to do that, you must cultivate a supportive environment by influencing and uniting the community, parents, and faculty.
• As an employee in the ...