Last updated August 21, 2021

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John Maxwell defines leadership as influence. People respond to one another according to their level of influence. To increase your leadership capacity means understanding how to increase your ability to influence others.

A Person of Influence Has Integrity With Others

Character is made in the small moments of our lives. Anytime you crack a moral principle, you create a small crack in the foundation of your integrity. Then when times get tough, it becomes harder to act with integrity not easier.A good rule of thumb: Don't do anything you wouldn't feel comfortable reading about on social media the next day.Integrity is a deeply personal issue. It's determined internally, not by external events or circumstances. Those external events only test your integrity. The more you take care of this character, the more it establishes your reputation.How well do I treat others from whom I can gain nothing? Am I the same when I'm in the spotlight as I am alone? Do I talk TO people or ABOUT them? These questions help to guide us in understanding whether we truly act with integrity or not.When you have integrity, it gives you the highest relationship status you can have with your peers, employees, managers, and clients - TRUST.Make the decision now that you don't have a price for which to sell your integrity. You have to do this ahead of time to guard yourself against the temptation later.Honesty is a habit. It has to be ingrained by acting consistently on the major things as well as the minor things.

A Person of Influence Empowers People

Empowering means giving your influence to others for the purpose of personal and organizational growth. It is sharing yourself, your influence, position, power, and opportunities with others. This should is done with the purpose of investing in their lives so that they can function at their best. It is seeing the full potential of a person, sharing your resources with them, and showing them you believe in them completely.Empowering can be as simple as giving your child permission to cross the road on their own. It can be delegating a challenging job to an employee and giving them the authority they needs to get it done.

People of Influence Understand People

Most people think all you need is hard work and technical skills. They forget to value people skills.In any workplace, enjoying the people you're around plays a large role in how you're perceived and treated.When people feel you are making an effort to understand them, they become more motivated to understand your point of view.Not understanding others causes conflict in the workplace. It's not the inability to agree, it's not understanding where someone else is coming from.When we don't understand others, we fear them. Then we start to disparage them and view their actions through a lens of suspicion and paranoia. This creates politics, awkwardness, lack of communication, tension, and reduced productivity.This is an organizational culture issue. It is noticeable most when people are afraid their ideas will be rejected. They feel coworkers don't value their opinion. They won't get credit if their ideas work, their boss will be threatened if they make a good suggestion, or they'll get labeled as troublemakers.When we understand others, we'll often find in general most people are trying to do the right thing.What do we need to understand about others? People want to feel significant and treated with respect. They want to be valued. Think about when you've worked on something really hard, and someone recognizes that with the simple action of coming and asking you for your input - it makes you feel valued.No one cares what you know until they know how much you care. Have a positive view toward others