With those two references serving as our starting point, let’s begin digging into how intentionally choosing influence over authority - even when that authority may often produce the results we need in the moment - leads to long term success far beyond the limits of a title. In each of my previous books, I supplied quotes and data from recognized sources. Since so much of this look at Leveraging Leadership Growth: Strength Through Great Professional Relationships is based on the impact so many amazing leaders and mentors have had in my life (lessons I’ve learned along the way, if you will), I’m going to stick with a few stories that I’ve watched unfold - at least for now as we get this ball rolling.

With that in mind, though, we can’t lose sight of the difference earned influence can make even when we have a title that carries authority. Throughout What’s KILLING Your Profitability? and Leading With A Clear Purpose, I referenced an article I found from Harvard Business Review called “The Things They Do for Love” that quantified the impact employee engagement has like this:

“Company leaders won’t be surprised that employee engagement—the extent to which workers commit to something or someone in their organizations—influences performance and retention. But they may be surprised by how much engagement matters. Increased commitment can lead to a 57% improvement in discretionary effort—that is, employees’ willingness to exceed duty’s call. That greater effort produces, on average, a 20% individual performance improvement and an 87% reduction in the desire to pull up stakes.”

I’ve shared the statistics from this article with thousands of supervisors, managers, and executives over the last several years and it’s almost always received with wrinkled foreheads or scowls. Many of them struggle to comprehend how something perceived to be so intangible - that touchy-feely idea of employee engagement - could possibly yield such an increase in discretionary effort and so much of a measurable improvement in productivity. Since seeing those scowls the very first time, I’ve immediately challenged each of them to consider the best and the worst boss they’ve worked for, and how that impacted their performance. We can almost see the light bulbs over their heads as it sinks in!

For our purposes here, I’ll take it a step further and share my own examples. In 1995, I worked on a construction crew led (and I use that term VERY loosely here) by one of the most miserable humans I’ve ever known. During the year I was on that crew, I only remember him being on a job site a couple of dozen times. Most of those were for just a few minutes; I’d bet there were no more than half a dozen instances where he was there for as much as two hours in a single day and only two or three where I actually saw him pick up a tool. He was incredibly efficient with his time on the job though; he was able to piss off nearly everyone each time he showed up. Although it was a small crew, turnover was high. The quality standards were a world apart from anything I had seen leading up to the point or since, and productivity still wasn’t anything to write home about. The direct contrast I’ll share is the decade-plus that I worked for Kevin Arnold. I’ve detailed that at length already so I won’t rehash any of that again now, but I’ll stress that the discretionary effort I was willing to put out every single day was significantly higher than anything I would have even considered on that particular construction crew. 

Both had titles that carried authority. Both could have fired me any time they chose. I was willing to run through walls for Kevin the entire time I worked for him, and I feel the same way about him nearly fifteen years later. I was far more likely to have thrown the other one through a wall than to ever run through one on his behalf, I was only willing to tolerate him for about twelve months until I found a completely new line of work, and I’ve never cared to see him since. Titles certainly have a place, but there are indeed limits to what can be accomplished through a title alone. Influence can do so much more than authority, but influence has to be earned.

Earning Trust (and Influence) with Humility

With the limits of a title fresh in mind, let’s look at why it’s crucial that we EARN trust - and thereby, influence - so we have a legitimate shot at achieving all we need to as leaders. Spoiler alert: the humility we looked at previously is key! Before we do, though, it’s important that we each reflect on one situation where the title we had didn’t earn the level of respect we needed to get results. Now, identify one person you can work to build a trust-based connection with over the next week so your influence is more prevalent in the relationship than your authority.

I referenced Mark Cole heavily in detailing the strength of humility, mainly because of the global responsibility he carries while displaying humility as well as anyone I’ve ever interacted with personally. His travel schedule puts him in around thirty-five countries per year, working with heads of state and leaders of the largest companies in each, with even more of them routinely coming to wherever he is. One of the most impactful things I’ve ever heard Mark say is, “I trust leaders who make mistakes. I don’t trust leaders who make excuses.” As powerful as this is coming from someone like Mark who deals with leaders around the world, how much more does that ring true for us - with those who have earned our trust as well as for how we need to work to earn trust and influence with the folks counting on us for leadership?

Having worked beside (and reported directly to) Kevin Arnold for more than a decade, I’ll point to him yet again. I can’t think of a single time where he gave an excuse for issues we ran into or goals we missed. And I certainly can’t point to a time where he allowed the blame for any of those to be passed on to me - even if I deserved it. Don’t miss my point here, we missed goals and we made our share of mistakes; everyone does. He was very intentional about passing a ton of credit on to me when we achieved our goals, but he was just as quick to accept responsibility when we didn’t. Can you see why I still feel the way I do about him all these years later?

Conversely, I had opportunities to observe far different behavior up the reporting chain during the time Kevin and I worked together. Two of the plant managers we worked for over the years were far less humble and very willing to throw anyone they could under the bus if it meant saving their own ass. (I may or may not have referred to one of them as Lumbergh, and he deserved it!) Neither of them seemed to ever do wrong; if you had any doubt about that, they were more than willing to tell you again even louder. In the rare cases where something seemingly reflected poorly on either of them, neither wasted time in detailing why it was actually one of their minion’s fault rather than their own. Both had the final say within the facility during their respective tenures but you can likely guess how limited their influence was beyond the authority of their title.

The humility I’ve experienced from folks like Kevin, Terry, and even Mark Cole amplifies any influence their titles carry. That humility also earned a level of trust that I never would have developed with any of them had they chosen to hide behind excuses rather than openly admitting to and owning any mistakes that occurred within their areas of responsibility. Those two plant managers were also always quick to share criticism for anything that wasn’t done exactly how they expected. As you can imagine, I never saw that received as well as the candid feedback given by the more humble mentors I continue to mention. That tied right back to influence too.