- How do you influence others?
- How do you provide feedback?
- How do you get others to make decisions?
- How do you make a sale?
There are thousands of these “how to” questions, and millions of tactics preached by countless experts. But in my opinion, much of it is noise, and little of it is truly effective.
Rather than mastering tactics, I believe learning to be genuinely good is more important. When we are authentic, it doesn’t matter which exact words we choose when influencing others or how much we sugar-coat our feedback. People are smart—they can sense the truth behind even the most polished phrases or rehearsed body language. The reality of who we are often speaks louder than our words, even in our silences or forced smiles.
It’s probably easier—and far more impactful—to focus on being genuinely interested in others, thinking well of them, helping them, and leading through service. Everything else tends to fall into place when our intent is in the right place. People will notice our authenticity and want to support us because they can tell we’re thinking about them first.
It is my tactics vs character rant!