Daily Influence

Join us as we showcase the quintessential ideas and seminal insights that showcase the best of The Daily Influence. Whether you missed them before or need a refresher, let’s revisit these highlight moments and elevate your influence. What is Influence? This is what The Daily Influence is all about, you and your influence, us and our influence. You, We all matter and understanding that our influenc...

Join us as we showcase the quintessential ideas and seminal insights that showcase the best of The Daily Influence. Whether you missed them before or need a refresher, let’s revisit these highlight moments and elevate your influence. Most people think of individualism as singular, meaning oftentimes selfishness and oneness. However, when two individuals come together for a common purpose, acting a...

How often do we actually think about the lessons we learn each day?  Our lives are a classroom, and we have an opportunity to self-educate intentionally every day, week, or whatever time frame you choose.   Understanding how you learn and incorporating that into your life to extract from your daily influence, those actions that will educate you to improve you and your area of influence is somethin...

Today, we review the influence of change and how making one small semantic decision about approaching it as improvement can result in better, more positive results.   We also review the difference between Choice and Decision and how everything we do is action. There is no such thing as inaction.

When we decide to not act, we have taken action!  When we choose to not make a decision, we have made a decision.  Everything is influence; so, be mindful about your approach to decision and action. Be SMART. 

We can have many choices – think of Baskin-Robbins' 31 Flavors – but ultimately we make one decision.   Slowing down and being SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely) about how we decide can be the difference between positive and negative consequences. 

Do you or your organization struggle with change?  You might change the way you approach it and call it Improvement.   Change is inevitable for us all and for most of us when we do it consciously, we are doing it to improve, so call it what it is and see how that one change in semantics can improve the quality of your "Change" improvement management efforts. 

As Rene and I embark on a trip through Asia, we will review how Pitfalls can influence our lives, both negatively and positively.   Understanding assumptions, delegation and how they can together cause real issues in our areas of influence.   Sweating the small stuff can overshadow understanding the big picture, or have you focused on things that make you miss other important details.   Understand...

It may seem odd that we talk about happiness as a pitfall, but it can be. Our individual happiness is subjective to each of us, and what may make me happy may make others unhappy.   Understanding that our happiness may be a pitfall is a part of understanding the balance between the different areas of influence we live in: home, work, friends, and everything in between. 

Within your world of influence, you have what we call Karma. Others can call it different things: chance, destiny, getting what you deserve.   Whatever you believe or don't, it's hard to deny that there are events in each of our lives that seem to be attracted to us in a pattern. This world of influence we each live in can be understood or, at least, defined better when we slow down and pa...

When we overreact we create obstacles that can become huge pitfalls. Both positive and negative reactions can be overdone and cause for others to perceive what is not true or contextual; be mindful of how you react.

We each have our specific areas of influence. Taking them for granted is a pitfall. When we are a perceived leader, we can overstep our bounds and create pitfalls. When we are the perceived subordinate, we can fail to participate because we feel our influence is minimized, taking away from the benefit of our input.

When we micromanage, we risk focusing on things that may not actually be as influential to success as we individually feel they are. One of the sayings I have for this type of action is "Stepping over dollars to pick up dimes."   We are often too focused on the little nuances that are inconsequential to the overall outcome, we just perceive them as wrong or different, so we try to control...

Another pitfall in our life is delegation. This one is more difficult because delegation on its own is not a pitfall, it is when we delegate without being SMART (Specific, Measured, Attainable, Realistic and Timely) in whatever we are delegating, that we create potential pitfalls for ourselves and others.

We begin our dive into (I)individual Pitfalls. These are the challenges we find ourselves in through our words and actions. The first pitfall we discuss is when we Assume (Ass - U - Me). Yes, when we make assumptions we risk making an ass out of ourselves and anyone else who goes along with our decision to take something as truth or possible without actually understanding the true nature of whatev...

Most humans don't think too far ahead about the responsibility they have for all their actions; or as we like to say, your influence. One of our missions is to elevate this understanding in individuals and help them to better appreciate their importance and the responsibility they have wherever or whatever their area of influence is.

Being a positive influence and a positive leader requires that one is fair and objective through challenging issues. Emotions are important and should not be disregarded, but keeping them in check when leading others through difficult times can be the difference between success and further challenges.

How we listen is important. Do you listen to learn or do you listen to react?  What type of listener are you?  Being a responsible leader means you must be able to listen, and that means listening to more than just words. 

Honesty is something we all strive to be known for; and yet, we all lie.  Understanding the different types of lies we tell and why it's important to understanding how we can remain a responsible influence.  

Establishing a work life balance is the best way to build a responsible leadership foundation for oneself. 

Being consistent is one of the best ways to build responsible teams.   

We all make mistakes. Own them and use them as an opportunity in your areas of influence.  

What happens when we fail to be responsible for our influence on our leadership? Listen as we look at the consequences of failure and the opportunity it holds. 

Understanding our influence allows us to understand that we are all leaders at different times within our areas of influence.  Listen as we define leadership in a different context.  

Understanding (I)individual responsibility can confuse many.  Our responsibility extends each time we influence. This is why we believe our influence is our biggest responsibility.