Leadership: Control vs. Influence

A great post on leadership by Michael Hyatt, President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers:

Leadership is about influence not control. I am not the first person to make this observation, but it is worth repeating.

...while you can’t control anyone (except perhaps yourself), you can influence nearly everyone. This is the essence of true leadership. By this definition, Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King were great leaders. They had control of virtually no one, yet their influence changed the course of history.

Aspiring leaders would do well to stop focusing on control and figure out how to expand their influence. Here are four ways you can become a person of influence, no matter where you are in the organization:

1. Focus on yourself
2. Take the initiative
3. Cast the vision
4. Appreciate the effort

Yes, it would be nice if the whole world stood ready to do our bidding. But for most of us, tyranny is not an option. If we are going to make a difference, we are going to have to sharpen our leadership skills and get better at wielding our influence. Everyday is an opportunity to get better at this important skill.

Read the whole thing.

This is a lesson that's been driven home to me on several occasions, particularly in the writings of John Maxwell. Like Hyatt, one of the main points Maxwell makes is that leadership is influence. Since we all people influence others, in a sense we are all leaders. The challenge is to use this influence in a good way rather than a bad.

If you are using our influence in a positive way, it is a good thing to try to expand it. I wish more economists took this notion to heart. I think most economists would agree that economics has many insights that are both simple and often counter-intuitive which can have a profound on the world. That's what drew many of us into the profession to begin with. While many economic notions are initially counter-intuitive and non-obvious, I think most people are sympathetic to them once they are explained. If so, why aren't more economists concerned with effective communication?

I wrote a couple days ago that I wish economics was a required course for seminary students. In contrast, maybe all economics students should be required to take a class on effective communication? At a minimum, How to Win Friends and Influence People should be required reading in the profession.

I'm happy to say that many GMU profs, particularly Russ Roberts really get this point.