Rethink Influence

You are a leader. Regardless of your position, you can be an influence.
Everybody can influence. We can all influence someone somewhere about
something.

Position does not dictate whether or not we influence. Did you know that
there is a current generation of young leaders that are longing to have
you invest in them?

For a number of years, I have had the opportunity to serve in a leadership role in
both church and business environments. I appreciate both worlds and find them
both necessary. Recently, I was reading a book that helps educators to create
significant learning experiences.

Among others, he posed two questions to educators:
In your deepest, fondest dreams, what kind of impact would you most like to
have on your students? What is the distinctive educational impact you would
like for your teaching and your courses to have on your students?

Selected responses:
• develop a deep curiosity
• apply and use what they learn in real-life situations
• engage in lifelong learning
• continue to grow as critical thinkers
• mentor others
• see the need for change and be a change agent
• be creative problem solvers
• develop key skills in life, such as communication skills
• see the importance of community building, both at work and in their
personal lives

If you were asked the following question how would you answer:

In your deepest, fondest dreams, what kind of impact would you most like to
have on those that you influence? What is the distinctive impact you would like
for your influencing to have on those that you lead?

May our moments of influence not be wasted.

I thought about how influencing one young leader can lead to the domino effect.

It all started with a guy from Boston.

His name…
EDWARD KIMBALL led a small group at his church when he met a
challenging teenager. That seventeen-year-old young man was poorly educated
and prone to outbursts of anger and profanity.

His name…
DWIGHT L. MOODY. He became the “greatest” evangelist of the nineteenth
century. In 1879, he was instrumental in the life change experienced by a young
man.

His name…
F.B. MEYER. He became a minister. He mentored a young man.

His name…
J.W. CHAPMAN. He became a pastor and evangelist. He also started an
outreach to professional baseball players. There he influenced a young man.

His name…
BILLY SUNDAY. He became one of the greatest evangelists in the first two
decades of the twentieth century. He influenced a young man who eventually
came back to work with him.

His name…
MORDECAI HAM. He became a preacher. He was preaching when a teenager
responded to the invitation “to give your life to Jesus Christ.”

His name…
BILLY GRAHAM. He has influenced more people than any other preacher in
history. He remains a trusted confidant to presidents and other key influencers.

Do the best you can where you are, with what you have, for a purpose that is
greater than yourself. You can be someone worthwhile. You can do something
worthwhile. A generation of growing leaders needs your influence! Be
a domino.