What does it mean to be an influential leader?

As an influential leader, it is your mission to make a positive impact on the lives of those around you. More importantly, your job is to make every person on your team better versions of themselves than before they came under your leadership. It's that simple, and it matters.

Let's break it down. You have the potential to shape the future and create lasting change. Your goal as a leader is to inspire people to understand and see your vision. Then, you must energize them to accomplish their mission and empower them with the tools they need to do their job well. Simply, that is how to get the most out of your people.

Ultimately these efforts will lead to a greater sense of purpose and fulfillment as well as the creation of high performing teams.

Leaders always eat last.

Serving others is a noble gesture that often goes unappreciated but speaks to your true character. It requires great discipline and focus to prioritize service to others ahead of your own individual interests and still make well-rounded decisions that do not ignore the effect on other people.

Little things matter.

Leaders shouldn't get the parking spaces closest to the building. Why do you want your people walking in the rain to get inside the office? Don't you want them to be able to comfortably go into the office in a good mood to be more productive faster?

Is someone struggling with a broken process or piece of technology that doesn't work? Fix it. Make sure that your people have everything they need to do their job well. Distractions and frustration cost you time and morale.

Pay attention to the little things. They may not feel high on your priority list, but when you have the responsibility for deadlines, payroll;  the buck stops at you with clients.  The little things are what will slowly corrode your mission and compromise the performance of your team.

You won't recognize an influential leader when you see one.

As a high school wrestler, it was my job to help coach the younger kids in our youth program on the basics of wrestling. I was good enough to fortunately be selected as one of these youth coaches. One day I looked up to see a man I didn't recognize walking toward my team in the gym as we were working with the younger kids. Tall, but not impressive in stature,, meek, with sort of an awkward gate to his walk, he said, "I'm Matt Fallon, and I'd like to help with the wrestling program." He stayed to watch, and he came to our practices and just watched for days.

One weekend, he came to watch and support our team at a pretty high stakes tournament. The tension in the room was high. Parents nerves were on edge. During a break, one of the dads, a 280 lb powerlifter on his off hours (and it showed), said, "Let's have some fun on the mat with a little exhibition." He asked the other dads, "Anyone want to take me? I’ll wrestle anyone here!”  The crowd was silent as no one dared agree to a challenge from this massive man. 

Matt stepped up in his blue jeans, t-shirt, and thick glasses and quietly said, "I'll do it, I’ll wrestle him."

The dad asked, "You got clothes?"

"I have my shoes and gear in my car," was Matt's response. We knew there had to be more to Matt than what appeared on his surface if he carried wrestling shoes in his car.

With a 60-80 lb muscle disadvantage, Matt stepped onto the mats and shook hands with the dad.  In a matter of seconds, Matt had taken him down and was working him to his back!  Bam! He pinned impressively fast, leaving a stunned powerlifter on the mat and a team of high school boys entranced. 

The musclebound dad jumped to his feet and said, “I wasn’t ready, let’s go again!”  Matt gladly agreed.  The result was almost the same.  In seconds Matt took him down, only this time he paced himself while methodically working the muscle man to his untimely demise.  No excuses this time.  After the pin, he jumped up and gently asked, “Would you like to go a third time?”  Of course, the powerlifter dad declined, and of course, the crowd was speechless at what they just witnessed. He was humble and graceful and kind. And, he taught us that “power deceived is power achieved”. If you perceive someone to have no power when in fact they do, they have a serious advantage over you, they win.

Matthew Fallon went on to become the high school wrestling team head coach and one of the most influential leaders I've had the privilege of learning from and following.  He served us everyday to get us the training we needed, to expand our program, to teach the techniques necessary, and carve out a place for our team to have more firmly established traditions. 

Final thoughts

Influential leadership is serving others humbly and consistently putting them first to empower them to both achieve your mission and improve their skill sets as they do. As an influential leader, you will make a lasting impact on the world around you. Whether it’s in your career, community, or family, take the time to develop your leadership skills and serve those around you - and you, too, will know what it means to be an influential leader.

Most people don’t realize there are actual leadership tools available that work to develop influential leaders. CS Business Consulting gives you the roadmap, tools, and training to experience the power of influence and the reshaping of your culture. Building high performing teams is essential to becoming an influential leader.