Do you struggle with motivating and influencing yourself to change? Do you struggle with motivating and influencing family members (e.g. son, daughter, wife, husband) to try alternatives to the way they currently operate? Do you struggle influencing at the community level (e.g. neighbors, government, etc…)? Many of us do and we become frustrated when we can’t break through, we throw up our hands and maybe turn to a serenity prayer. It goes like this, “Provide me serenity to accept things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.”

As someone who has struggled with addictions in the past, I know this prayer all to well. The book “Influencer: The Power to Change Anything,” puts this thinking/belief into question and is very much in line with what I have come to believe (after significant amounts of therapy). You have much more control to influence yourself, family and community then you think.

Whether you are a CEO, parent, president of a country, teacher, ScrumMaster or anyone in a position that requires influencing, in my opinion, this book is worth the time to read and start putting the strategies into application. It has some amazing stories that are woven throughout the book. These stories highlight the strategies for influencing people and how it has worked in the most challenging of situations.

Simply stated by the authors, people will attempt change when they can answer yes to the following questions, “Is it worth it (motivated)?”, “Can I do what is required (ability)?”

There are 3 steps outlined in the book when seeking to influence:
– Step 1: Clarify Measurable Results
– Step 2: Find Vital Behaviors (e.g vital behaviors for weight loss: exercise on home equipment, eat breakfast, and weigh daily.
– Step 3: Use Six Sources of Influence

Six Sources of Influence:

For example six sources of influence for a goal of trying to lose weight and eat healthier might look like this:

• Personal Motivation – I want to lose weight so I live longer and look good at the beach
• Personal Ability – Learn new exercises, read up on how to train your brain to crave healthy food
• Social Motivation – Surround yourself around people that will motivate you
• Social Ability – Join a group of people that are trying to lose weight
• Structural Motivation – Reward yourself when u achieve each small goal
• Structural Ability – Remove junk food, join gym

Start small, determine a short term goal for the identified vital behavior, use one or more of the six sources of influence, review against the goal and repeat.

There are a couple of great reviews that did an excellent job capturing the important elements of the book in various levels of detail.

• Influencer: The Power to Change Anything by J.D. Meier at Sources of Insight
• Summary of Influencer: The Power to Change Anything at HelpingHelp
• Reviews on Amazon
• Influencer book website from the authors

If you want to start improving your influential skills, I can’t think of any better place to start than this book. Read it. Try it. Refer back to it often.

What books have you read that have helped improve your ability to influence?