Unintentional Influence (part two)

The below MMM is an oldie but a goodie!  It is a story from 2010 about my granddaughter and unintentional influence.  It is a great illustration and worth sharing again as a follow up to last week’s article on this topic.

MMM from 04.26.10

Last week the dog next door was barking incessantly, as it is prone to do.  Those of you who know me know that I am not dog person.  I went over to the wooden fence separating me from the dog and gave it a good kick and yelled something in an attempt to quiet the dog.  It worked momentarily.  Later in the week my wife tells me that the dog was barking again and my 4 year granddaughter, Grayson, kicked the fence and yelled at the dog!  Okay so I am not longer in the running for grandfather of the year.  But I also need to remind myself about unintentional influence.

Great leaders are always aware of their influence.  An obvious step is to understanding influence comes in situations that clearly require your leadership, projects, crisis’s, conflict etc.  But leadership is a 24/7 role at work and at home.  As I have said before, we are all leaders in some role or another, home, work, church, relationships, or in the community.  We all have influence.  It is our responsibility to be careful about our unintentional influence.

The story about Grayson’s action reminded how important my influence is at all times.  Grayson watches every single thing the adults around her are doing.  People we work with as business and civic leaders are watching us as well.  Not that I think they would kick the fence just because I did.  But they might do something unprofessional or disrespectful thinking it was okay if they had seen me do it.  John Maxwell speaks of the importance of intentional influence.  I think it is just as important to look at it is the inverse, unintentional influence.  I did not intend to influence Grayson when I kicked the fence.  I meant to get the dog to stop barking.  (Granted, probably a bad way to accomplish that.)  But I unintentionally influenced Grayson.  I sent her a message I did not intend to send.

Make sure your influence is positive at all times, in all situations and in front of all types of followers!  Be mindful of your unintentional influence.