Practice #5: Strategic Leaders Build Their Power & Influence

Life - Work-Life Balance
Written By Charles Moore

Last week, a friend wrote this to me about his latest appointment with the optometrist: “He spent very little time reading the diagnostics and a lot of time chatting about politics, cartoons, how many things you can do with the button on the steering wheel of your Tesla, etc. It was fun.”

The context? We were discussing how AI will impact work. As we become increasingly less competitive relative to machines in information-processing tasks, a greater proportion of our value will be based on how good we are at interpersonal tasks. 

The interesting part of that shift is that it’s likely to be a difficult reframing of how we provide value, especially for those of us who have incorporated the praise and rewards for being smart and having professional training into our identities. It may be that my friend’s optometrist is a naturally gregarious person, and having a good chat during each appointment comes naturally and is enjoyable. However, I suspect it would be harder for a professional like him to accept the idea that having a good chat is the main reason people come to him over others or some future AI-driven self-service optometry kiosk.

The email exchange with my friend reminded me of a mindset shift that people make on the way to becoming strategic leaders. At some point, they recognize that logic and information are less important to their success than mastering the process of getting people to believe in their information and logic.

It’s not that they give up on rigorous analysis when making decisions. Rather, they shift their time and attention to the political aspects of the decisions. They don’t give up their industry and functional expertise, but they also ensure that they build expertise in emotions, interpersonal dynamics, and how people move as a group to accomplish important goals.

As a result of that expertise, what’s different about the strategic leaders I spoke with for Everyday Strategic Leadership is that they consistently make an effort to build their relationships, influence, and power. It’s an investment in their ability to get things done rather than a distraction from it. Unlike others, they don’t leave their influence to chance or wait until the day before the big meeting to work on it.

Charles Moore
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Practice #4: Strategic Leaders Promote Team Speed & Alignment