Leadership and Influence

Extraordinary leaders inspire, but just how do they do it? An extraordinary leader is a person who has learned how to influence others, including their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; people like Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Oprah are just a few examples.

Here we’ll cover the 10 essential qualities that all excellent leaders share.  

Hunger and drive set a leader apart from a follower. Leaders have an insatiable hunger to make something happen; they must do, create and share. This drive is the force that makes them unstoppable. Through their drive, they discover how to influence people and the culture around them.

Small visions have no power to inspire or move people. Instead of influencing others, you’ll be fighting for their attention. If you want to unlock an extraordinary life, you must have big dreams. This is why great leaders always have a vision larger than themselves.

A leader always has an absolute core belief that they can bring their vision to life. There is true power in belief, and influencing others always starts with conviction. Certainty is also a crucial component in how to influence people.

People who are trying to influence others make the blunder of communicating in the style that works for them. Unless they get lucky and are with a group of people who think just like them, this type of communication will fail. Those who understand how to influence people know that getting to know them better is a crucial step to communication and that influencing them cannot be done without it. 

Leaders who know how to influence others are strategic in their communication style and messaging. They’re strategic in how to get the job done and know how to work with a variety of people. They know they need a strategy for what they’re doing and a strategy for communicating. 

Leaders truly care about those they are influencing and know how to connect with them. When you care enough to connect with someone and learn their patterns, you gain the ability to influence them. This skill is vital because as a leader, you’re going to come up against someone or some group that’s going to try to stop your progress at some point.

To influence others and change the world, you must set a standard of unreasonable expectations. The only way something revolutionary happens is when you won’t settle and when you know how to influence others not to settle. 

Having courage means you’re afraid of a task and you do it anyway, and having faith means you’re able to work toward a challenging goal because you believe it serves a greater good. Leaders have the ability to tap into both; they also know how to influence people to embrace the same courage and faith.

All great leaders continue to learn with every interaction and every experience. They never turn off that capacity for adapting to new environments or developing new skills. There’s something inside them that hungers to know all they can know to be able to master something that’s related to their vision.

A true leader leads by example. When attempting to influence others, they always walk their talk. They never ask others to do what they are not willing to do – or have already done – themselves. They lead from their core values and know that influencing others is meaningless unless it comes from a place of authenticity.

Best,

Manal