The 5 BE’s of Power and Influence
I like the look .. Wonder Woman … but I am not so sure the get-up is made out of a performance material. Looks binding and non-forgiving.
Let’s talk a bit about the misconceptions of power, sources of valid power (not always a flashy title), and how a woman’s power is easily gained but not often exerted.
We identify 5 areas of activity where any woman can be more influential. They are The 5 BE’s, as follows:
- BE CONNECTED
- BE KNOWLEDGEABLE
- BE VISIBLE
- BE UNIQUE
- BE LIKEABLE
More about each of these areas. See the compelling and award-winning video below.
AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION
(Music plays)
Katie: Hi I’m Carol.
Carol: And I’m Katie.
Katie: That’s not right. If you watch us you’ll know that that’s not true. I’m Katie.
Carol: And I’m Carol.
Katie: And the trick with that is that you need to know left from right when you are a leader.
Carol: And also when you are looking in the mirror.
Katie: But you know what? Let’s talk about leadership. Let’s not even go down that goofy trail.
Carol: I have no idea where you are going anyway.
Katie: Really there wasn’t any logic to it except power and influence has a lot to do with how I just influenced you through my subtle power of controlling the camera.
Carol: Controlling my mind.
Katie: Which is why this month, women’s leadership is so dependent on how your power and your influence is set up and we are teaching women the subtleties of that because I think it is full of subtleties.
Carol: I’m going to mention something. We did a podcast earlier this month at SkirtStrategiespodcast.com and it was with Dr. Jackie Hood, and she talked about power being something only others can give you. So you can’t get power, only others can give you power.
And so that’s where the good and evil comes in.
Katie: Not in a manipulative way but in a good leadership way so we have it identified in five areas that you can be more of, five. And they are the five B’s.
The first one is Be connected.
- BE CONNECTED
You can absolutely do something about that. Think about someone that you know that is super connected. They belong to a lot of organizations. Maybe they end up leading a lot of organizations. They get answers. They go out and they know who the person is to go to, to find answers. They are a connector.
Like Malcom Gladwell says in The Tipping Point, those are the people that are connectors. Those people have influence because you go to them knowing that they can send you to where you need no go for an answer.
Carol: They can get you in the right place.
Katie: Yes. So that’s the first of your B’s, be connected.
The second one, to gain some power and influence, be knowledgeable, know your stuff.
2. BE KNOWLEDGEABLE
Carol: Be an expert. So one part of power is expertise. If you have expertise in something, people will come to you and it gives you a certain amount of power.
Katie: In an organization that’s great. You want to be the expert on something.
Are there any downsides of that?
Carol: Yes they are. If you become too much of an expert, you leave yourself out of being a generalist. So have some expertise but know things about others.
Katie: You don’t want to get pigeonholed into “You only know this therefore we’re only going to use you for this.” That’s the second B.
The third is Be visible.
3. BE VISIBLE
Women can be great at this but sometimes we are not so visible.
Carol: We can shy away from that visibility so don’t do that and we’ve told you many times. Sit at the table. Raise your hand. Do the things that make you visible because your voice is just as important as anybody else’s in the room.
Katie: It’s kind of tied to that be connected when you are more connected the way to get more connected is to be out there and to be visible. So, attend events, be a speaker. This is one of the things we identify in our book, one of the tips in Skirt Strategies: 249 Success Tips for Women in Leadership is a great leader shares her knowledge and is out there speaking.
Carol: Volunteer to speak at –
Katie: A brown bag.
Carol: Rotary club, whatever. You have expertise, use it and tell people about it.
Katie: Your public speaking skills are great for your self-confidence and your leadership.
Carol: Yes they are.
Katie: Unless you completely screw up and then your self-confidence and then people just love you because you screwed up and you are just a human being.
Fourth B: Be unique.
4. BE UNIQUE
Be different. Stand out in a good way be unique. What do people come to you for that you are unique with and this could be expertise as well. It could be in your knowledgeable area. But what is it that you want to make sure that people know that you have? Is there something you can do that’s different?
Carol: All I can think of is “Why does everybody endorse you for on LinkedIn?” Maybe that’s not the thing you want to be unique about because it’s never terribly unique. It’s not anymore.
Katie: I have a great strategic planning approach that’s for some groups is perfect because we don’t create a strategic plan that’s half an inch think in a document but it’s a fun, interactive way of getting a vision and a strategic plan around it. The guts of it down and people love it and I’m kind of known for that lately. It’s one of those unique things.
Number five, the last of those B’s, is to Be likable.
5. BE LIKEABLE
You think about someone who you think highly of that you like. You think highly of them because they are charismatic or they are likable or they are complimentary to you. They are just a good person.
They have influence over you and I think of a friend of mine, my friend Ann who is so good at being complimentary. She’s a great listener. She’s a role model to me and so to me not only is she just a role model, but if she were to need to get something out of me, I’d jump. I’d jump because I just think she hangs the moon. She does thing so well.
Carol: Well you earn to be liked by her. She’s likable. She’s got lots of friends.
Katie: That’s a type of power. That’s a type of power because you can influence others through that. See you would never have thought of that as power but it really is.
Carol: Absolutely. You think about those people that are really likable and they are just jovial and fun and people want to be around them. That is a kind of power.
Katie: It would be nice if you had all those types of power and authority, meaning you had some control over resources as well but in our day-to-day world, sometimes more things get done through these subtle types of power vs. through the position power with the person that has the budget control or resources.
Carol: Well we’ll teach you that too. We want to get the position, how to get the authority and the position and the resources.
Katie: Well if you do all these other B’s, the five B’s, aren’t you more likely to be promoted?
Carol: Absolutely.
Katie: Well that’s worthy of remembering and so that is the topic for you Skirt Strategists to chase down right now and we love the fact that you are following us.
If you are one of our dedicated followers as in a subscriber, it’s only $8 a month and you will be getting a weekly assignment around a certain leadership area. Those of you that are following during this month it happens to be October, will be getting an assignment around different types of power and influence and how to chase those down and get better at them. Something we think is pretty worthwhile and for eight bucks a month I’m not sure how you could argue with it.
Carol: You can’t.
Katie: You can’t so join us. Join us and be part of our tribe. Thanks for flowing Skirt Strategies and make sure you stick to that website and keep track of what we are doing every single month. We’d love to have you with us.
(Music plays)
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