Influencer Book Summary - Influencer Book explained in key points

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Influencer summary

Name: Influencer
Rating: 3.9 (129 reviews)
Author: Joseph Grenny

Joseph Grenny

The New Science of Leading Change

3.9 (129 ratings)

14 mins

What is Influencer about?

Influencer (2007) distills the essence of how influence works. In addition to providing examples of real people who are highly adept at affecting change, the authors present information rooted in psychology research and give you the tools you need to increase your influence over others.

Table of Contents

Influencer
summarized in 6 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 6

What’s in it for me? Use influence to improve people.

Getting people to come around to your way of thinking is hard – very hard. Just think of all the politicians out there, struggling to get people to adopt their viewpoint. Most fail. And only a handful ever reach a position of power.

But there is a way to win people over. You can become an influencer.

You just need to know how. And this is where these blinks come in. By approaching the act of influencing from fields such as sociology and psychology, you can learn some key techniques and get more people to join your side. If you work in a client-focused role, or in public policy, then these blinks are essential reading.

In these blinks, you’ll also discover

why the size of your workspace determines what people think of you;
how a powerful Tanzanian radio drama helped transforms society; and
how, if meted out correctly, rewards can help change behavior.

To influence people effectively, you must first learn what it means to be a real influencer.

We all want to influence the world, to make it a better place for ourselves and everyone else. But what’s the best way to actually do that? Merely wanting to improve things isn’t the same as actually making improvements.

So what should we do?

For starters, you need to pinpoint the goal you’re striving for. Most of us have some vague conception of what we want to achieve, and, because of this haziness, we never make concrete plans to get there. As a result, we often fail.

If you want to positively influence the world, you must have a goal – a tangible, measurable goal, and a timeframe for getting there. Take Dr. Don Berwick, former CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). Berwick wanted to decrease the mortality rate of people who use health care, for instance, by checking into a hospital. Actually, he claims that health care is one of the main causes of death in the US. So he set a concrete goal: Save 100,000 lives by 9 a.m. on June 14, 2006. Such precision is already a step toward effecting change.

To make headway on your goal, it’s vital that you concentrate on the behaviors that will get you there. True influencers don’t care about behaviors unrelated to the impact they want to have. Instead, they concentrate their efforts on two or three behaviors that will yield the biggest impact once mastered.

Take Dr. Wiwat, Thailand’s Minister for Public Health. Wiwat set out to drastically cut the AIDS rate in his home country. After discovering that 97 percent of HIV infections resulted from intercourse with heterosexual sex workers, he saw that the behavior that needed to change was the sex worker’s decision of whether or not to use a condom. Targeting this behavior only, Wiwat successfully stopped Thailand from becoming the country with the highest percentage of HIV-infected people in the world.

Influence people with storytelling, motivational techniques and direct experience.

If you want to influence people’s behavior, you need to convince them of your way of thinking. So what’s the most effective way of doing this?

When we feel we’re being forced to change, we feel as if we’re surrendering our free will. Being able to persuade others is therefore a far better approach. One technique you can use to do this is motivational interviewing, developed by Dr. William Miller. Here, you can use open questions to guide the interviewee to think about their behavior.

If the individual can’t be influenced, addressing the social environment might be the solution.

Many stories tell of a solitary, brave hero who solves all humanity’s problems. But, in reality, this rarely ever happens. Being a true influencer means working with and inspiring others so that you can realize your goals collectively, not saving the day singlehandedly.A great way to influence people is to help them reach a goal that they already share with others. There is a natural drive in people with a mutual goal, and often an influencer’s job is simply to identify these group members and give them the best opportunity to reach that goal together.

This is what Dr. Muhammad Yunus did after witnessing poverty in Bangladesh. The people there were trapped in destitution because they couldn’t receive even modest credit from local banks, which barred them from establishing small businesses that might bring a profit. So, Dr. Yunus created the Grameen Bank and gave credit to groups of five people. He knew that getting five people to work together to pull themselves out of poverty would instigate a shared ambition and generate the best ideas. Dr. Yunus’s initiative worked, and poverty in Bangladesh dropped dramatically. Grameen Bank is now worth millions of dollars.

Great influencers use rewards in a beneficial way.

Doing the right thing often isn’t the same as doing the easiest thing. And, when we try to influence others to change their ways for the better, we often end up making them do things they don’t want to do. This is where rewards – when given wisely – can help.

If somebody is intrinsically highly motivated to do something, a reward will energize and strengthen that commitment. Even minor rewards can influence people to produce unexpectedly positive results.

Changing a person’s surroundings is a subtle, yet profound means of having influence.

In daily life, we take our surroundings for granted. But changing them can have a dramatic effect on our behavior. And, of course, the same goes for others and the influence we have on them.Let’s start with space. Space is an influencing tool that functions subtly and without pressure. If we want to influence people without directly catching their attention, one of the best ways is to alter their space. But how?

Distance has a tremendous effect on our psyche, yet it’s easy to overlook once we’ve become accustomed to the structure of our environment. Simple yet powerful characteristics of a room such as its dimensions or the size of the windows exert great influence over us. For example, long distances and large rooms create an atmosphere of power, particularly in places of business. So, if you want to develop a rapport with others, you should opt for smaller spaces. One CEO who wanted to create a closer relationship with his employees failed to realize this. When the authors visited him, they needed to pass through six long hallways and four secretary stations. Not a great way to bond with your employees!

Influencers understand the effect that objects have on behavior.

From the moment we wake up to the moment we settle back in for sleep, objects play a central role in our lives. The best influencers know how to harness and shift behavior by using these objects.

Much like space, objects are silent influencers that trigger zero resistance. Take the following two examples:

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About the Author

The authors are a group of leadership and business experts. They also authored the New York Times best seller Crucial Conversations.

Who should read Influencer?

People working in customer service
Anyone working in public or social policy
Psychology and sociology students

Categories with Influencer

Management & Leadership Career & Success

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