This document provides 20 tips for becoming a powerfully influential leader. The top tips include being authentic and admitting mistakes, building trust through transparency and consistency, empowering employees appropriately, and focusing on relationship building over bureaucracy. Influential leaders demonstrate loyalty, give clear expectations, and allocate more resources to average and low performers in order to build their influence throughout the organization.

1. 20 THINGS THAT
WILL MAKE YOU
A POWERFULLY
INFLUENTIAL
LEADER

2. 20.
TRUST IS THE
CORE OF
LEADERSHIP
INFLUENCE

3. The most influential leaders
in your career you genuinely
trusted.
Now think of those leaders
you feared.
WHAT?

4. External assessments
True 360-feedback and
often
Open, non-consequential
conversations
HOW?

5. 19.
FEAR &
CONTROL HAVE
AN INVERSE
RELATIONSHIP

6. If you fear something, you
work to control it. If you
cannot control it, you
avoid it.
Allowing that fear to
consume you will
diminish your leadership
influence.
WHAT?

7. Assess the areas you
inherently lack trust.
Determine why you trust
less in these areas.
Monitor these areas for
an additional need to
control.
HOW?

8. 18.
CONSISTENCY IS
THE KEY TO
LEADERSHIP
TRUST &
INFLUENCE

9. Influential leaders
consistently exhibit
attitudes and behaviors
that are desirable to their
following.
Consistency builds
leadership trust and
eventually translates into
consistent performance.
WHAT?

10. Determine trust priorities
of individual team
members.
Use individual findings to
collectively prioritize your
focus on trust.
New leaders should be
especially aware of
applying trust priorities
consistently and broadly.
HOW?

11. 17.
LEADERSHIP
INFLUENCE
BEGINS WITH
TRUST OF
YOURSELF

12. The most destructive
cycle I see are in leaders
that lack confidence in
their leadership.
Lack of leadership trust in
yourself leads to fear and
control.
WHAT?

13. Ask yourself a few
questions:
'Why am I a leader?'
'Should I be a leader?'
'Who can help me calm
my chaos?'
Many people get into
leadership for the wrong
reasons.
Some leaders fall into a
cycle of chaos through
external pressures.
HOW?

14. 16.
LEADERSHIP
TRUST MUST BE
RECIPROCAL

15. The most influential
leaders give trust to
others first before they
expect to be trusted.
At times, the most
important trust leaders
can lend trust in
themselves.
WHAT?

16. Quickly show
autonomous action after
building confidence.
Demonstrate that
mistakes are acceptable
by showcasing them
positively.
Encourage frequent open
dialogue.
HOW?

17. 15.
INFLUENCE IS
BUILT THROUGH
TRANSPARENCY

18. Being truly transparent as
a leader initially feels like
entering a grocery store
naked.
Leadership trust is
built through
transparency.
It is impossible to trust
someone that you feel is
'hiding' something.
WHAT?

19. Walk into your nearest
grocery store naked.
(KIDDING! Sort of.)
Understand what to share
and when - your role is to
protect and calm.
Too much information or
bad timing can cause fear
and chaos.
Understand need to know
vs. should know
HOW?

20. 14.
LEADERSHIP
INFLUENCE
BUILDS THROUGH
SELF­
ADJUSTMENT

21. Leadership influence and
trust is not built by never
improving.
The most authoritative
source for improvement
is from those you rely on
to make you successful -
your leadership following.
WHAT?

22. Ask a lot of questions
'What can I do to support
you more?'
'I'm giving you my role for
a day! What are you going
to do differently?'
'Are you happy on the
team?"
Change the questions up
and ask them often
throughout your team
HOW?

23. 13.
EXPECTATIONS
BUILD
LEADERSHIP
TRUST &
CONFIDENCE

24. The more clear you are
with expectations as you
build trust with
individuals and teams, the
more success they will
have.
The more consistent
success experiences your
team has, the faster your
leadership influence will
build.
WHAT?

25. No 'fuzzy' or
unclear deadlines
Agreement of final
deliverable
Checkpoints (particularly
in the beginning) for
mutual understanding
and goal alignment
Readjust when necessary
and don't stay on a path
just because it was
planned
HOW?

26. 12.
TAKE RISK WITH
AT THE RIGHT
TIMES & WITH
THE RIGHT
INITIATIVES

27. Confidence to take risk
increases as the trust in
yourself, your teams
increases.
Influential leaders cycle
that trust from their
teams into themselves.
WHAT?

28. Be sure you first trust
yourself in leading risk -
take it slowly at first
Leadership trust to take
risk only builds through
time and experience
Use both time and
experience wisely to build
leadership influence to
embrace risk
Celebrate key risk
'failures' and use as
benchmarks for future
HOW?

29. 11.
ALLOCATE YOUR
RESOURCES TO
BUILD YOUR
LEADERSHIP
INFLUENCE

30. Average leaders put most of
their leadership resources
(time, energy, talent, and
patience) in the easy targets
- the high performers.
WHAT?

31. Assess the average and
low-performers.
Making them successful is
what builds incredible
leadership influence.
Don't neglect your high-
performers in the process
Leverage high-performers
to lift lower-performers
HOW?

32. 10.
BUILDING
LEADERSHIP
TRUST &
INFLUENCE IS AN
ACTIVE PROCESS

33. Great leaders do not take
the ‘wait and see’
approach to building
trust.
Make the process of
building trust & influence
happen - have a strategy.
WHAT?

34. The fear areas identified
before are actively
exposed to allow team
members to prove
trustworthy.
This expedites the
process of building
leadership influence.
Utilize team builders and
outside resources at the
beginning to speed the
process.
HOW?

35. 9.
IDENTIFY AREAS
OF LEADERSHIP
TRUST THAT
NEED TO BE
REPAIRED

36. While building leadership
trust and influence takes
significant time and
experience, it can be
diminished in one action.
Never lose focus on trust
and your leadership
influence will evolve
deeper and stronger over
time.
WHAT?

37. Continuously assess the
environment for
cohesiveness and trust.
Always look for ways to
boost confidence
especially during times of
change and
transformation.
Focus on building
emotional capital so
mistakes cause less
damage.
HOW?

38. 8.
STOP
STANDARDIZING
EMPOWERMENT
FOR A BOOST
INFLUENCE

39. Customize empowerment
to those performers who
have proven they can and
should have more.
Empowerment is to
organizational trust as
bureaucracy is to lack
organizational trust.
WHAT?

40. Empower individuals not
performance groups.
Assess current
standardized
empowerment policies as
they give too much
empowerment to under-
performers.
Use specialized
empowerment as a
rewards & recognition
program.
HOW?

41. 7.
LEADERSHIP
LOYALTY IS
IMPERATIVE TO
INFLUENCE & IS
MUTUAL

42. Demonstrate protection
and loyalty and expect to
receive it in return.
The same holds true for
respect.
WHAT?

43. Resolve conflict quickly
and discreetly.
Stop it with the 'throat to
choke' leadership styles.
Always take the fall to
other work groups and
senior leaders in front of
your team.
Protect them and they will
keep you safe.
HOW?

44. 6.
DON'T
DISCONNECT
THE TEAM
THROUGH
FAVORITES

45. Don’t show favoritism in
opportunity, support and
protection, though.
Favoritism will tank your
leadership influence as
trust in you plummets.
WHAT?

46. Give earned opportunities
to everyone.
Engage the withdrawn.
Be aware of the bullies
and be sensitive to the
perceptions of others.
HOW?

47. 5.
STRATEGIC
COMMITMENT
STRENGTHENS YOUR
LEADERSHIP
INFLUENCE

48. If consistency builds
leadership trust, then
consistently keeping
commitments makes you
an influential leader much
faster.
WHAT?

49. Especially, in the
beginning, be aware of
committing too much too
soon.
Negotiate commitments
from the start with output
and deadline
agreements.
Lack of your commitment
will make it acceptable
and normal to your team.
HOW?

50. 4.
LEADERSHIP
INFLUENCE BUILDS
ORGANIZATIONA
L INFLUENCE

51. Lack of organizational
trust creates needless
process.
Bureaucracy lowers
corporate confidence and
is created by leaders.
Decreased organizational
trust equates to
decreased influence
WHAT?

52. Evaluate process often for
bottlenecks of innovation
and creativity.
The more influence you
build as a leader, the
more influential you are
to an organization.
Focus on placing
influencers as opposed to
pure SMEs in the major
roles at all levels of an
organization.
HOW?

53. 3.
REVERSE THE
CYCLE OF
TRADITIONAL
ACCOUNTABILITY

54. Support and channels of
self-awareness lead to the
accountability of self.
Leadership influence
instills an environment of
driving the desire to learn
and hold yourself
accountable to high
standards.
WHAT?

55. Reduce bureaucracy.
Employ strategic staffing
and this should begin
with the hiring process.
Encourage constant
learning through cross-
functional development.
Staff on ability and
desires when possible as
the motivation and
accountability will
inherently exist.
HOW?

56. 2.
YOU ARE HUMAN
­ DEAL WITH IT

57. Admit your mistakes
quickly and loudly. Show
you have a plan for
correction.
Your example builds
leadership trust and
reveals the potholes
before you blow a tire.
WHAT?

58. Don't apologize for
everything.
Be the first to admit and
correct. Too much time
and money are spent in
the process of corporate
denial.
Encourage a system of
open admission and
collaboration for
correction of mistakes.
HOW?

59. 1.
NEVER LOSE
YOURSELF TO
YOUR
LEADERSHIP
ROLE

60. Authenticity is a gift you give
yourself and your team. It
builds confidence - in
yourself - and skyrockets
your influence as a leader.
WHAT?

61. Have a mentor to assess
if you are drifting.
If you find yourself
drifting away from 'you'
as a leader, determine
why.
Encourage authenticity in
others. They will not only
be happier on your team,
but it will also increase
your influence as a
leader.
HOW?

62. THESE 20 LEADERSHIP
INFLUENCE BUILDERS
ARE CONTINUOUS ­
KEEP ASSESSING AND
DOING!
The following slides contain additional resources to reinforce your leadership influence plan.
The last slide has my contact information. I would LOVE to hear your story and stay
connected.

63. LEADERSHIP & INFLUENCE RESOURCES

64. CONNECT WITH KRIS FANNIN