The Ripple Effect of Influence

As we looked at both fostering a mentorship culture and how humility serves as a counter to firm positional authority, I was very intentional each time in using the term “leadership legacy.” John Maxwell opens the final chapter in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, “The Law of Legacy,” by saying that “A leader’s lasting value is measured by succession.” Here are a few of the quotes John shares throughout that chapter:

• “Success is not measured by what you’re leaving to, but by what you are leaving behind.” - Chris Musgrove
• “We have made at least a start in discovering the meaning in human life when we plant shade trees under which we know full well we will never sit.” - Elton Trueblood
• “A life isn’t significant except for its impact on other lives.” - Jackie Robinson

In fact, one of the steps Maxwell lists for "Developing Your Leadership Legacy” is to “Make sure you pass the baton.” The idea of leaving a leadership legacy has become so important for me and Cindy that we’ve built it into the name of the event we host annually for leaders across the entire mid-Atlantic region: The LeadershipLegacy Experience. The common theme between fostering a mentorship culture & countering positional authority with humility, across each of the quotes John shared, and with his emphasis on passing the baton ties directly to the ripple effect of influence.

While I’ll never suggest that all of our relationships need to be based solely on the premise of leadership, I will say that every relationship - personal or professional - has some sort of impact on the lives of everyone involved. And whether we like it or not, there’s no such thing as neutral; we’re moving forward intentionally or we’ve chosen to allow the world to move forward without us, and are therefore moving backward intentionally. In either case, the influence we have is a weight on one side of the scale.

If our reach is limited to the positional authority that comes with our title, any potential positive ripple we make most likely ends when the employment relationship does - if there’s ever a positive ripple to speak of. By earning influence with others around us, those ripples go far beyond what we may ever see or even know about; I suppose that’s why my friend Mark often tells me about never knowing this side of heaven who gets value from things I’ve written… When we’ve earned genuine influence and we choose to make a sow positive into each person we interact with, the results carry on long after we move in other directions.

My grandmother passed away in August 2020, just a month before her 97th birthday. She lost a lot of mobility in her last few years but she volunteered in various roles throughout the community she lived in into her early 90s. She frequently commented on how she couldn’t do as much as she once did, but she was happy to be able to help out where she was about. Each time we talked about it, I made sure to emphasize how much of a positive impact I knew she had on each person she interacted with. More than a decade removed from her serving in those volunteer roles, and still routinely hearing from people who knew her from that time, I’m confident that the influence she earned as a volunteer had more of a positive ripple effect than most of the highly paid executives who ran the community.

As I’ve mentioned before, many of the mentors I’ve been blessed with have always been intentional about sharing who taught them what. Seeing someone I’ve had the chance to pass things onto pass those lessons on to people they’re mentoring is a snapshot of the overall impact we can have through the ripple effect of influence. Tying things I learned from Kevin that he learned from a guy named Dave, knowing that I had a hand in Jake picking it up and now teaching it to the folks he works with, I’m confident that would have never been the case if any of it were based on title alone. We’ll look at how influence helps us overcome the inevitable resistance that comes with initiating any kind of change next. First though, I’ll challenge you to seek a team member you’ve mentored and ask them to share a lesson you’ve taught them; not to inflate your ego, but so you get a glimpse of the ripple effect you’re a part of.