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Moving Mountains with a Powerful Network

How do we define influence? What’s the secret?  On Monday, our Women’s Initiative Fellows began their coursework at SMU with a...

How do we define influence? What’s the secret?  On Monday, our Women’s Initiative Fellows began their coursework at SMU with a discussion on “Influence and Persuasion” led by Kimberly Davis, who opened the session by posing these two questions.  After some discussion between the Fellows, they came up with a solid list of characteristics that make someone influential: hard work, efficiency, courage, persistence, love, commitment and so on. 

One critical point Davis made is that there is a difference between influence and coercion.  Effective leaders, some in formal leadership roles and others who are informal leaders, use influence to reach their goals.   Influence is about the betterment of others – helping people outside of your self – but one must work on self, understand others perspectives, and taking actions is important in achieving influence.

When Davis asked the group “Does influence come from the mind or from the heart?” the response was mixed.  Many contended that to be influential you must use logic and reason to sway the opinions of others.  Others said influence can only be achieved through passion and emotion.

In the end, Davis revealed authentic influence requires a combination of the two. Ultimately, it comes from the heart, but your mind and heart must come into alignment because logic and reason often influence the decisions of the heart. To influence, logic and emotions must be aligned.  She encouraged the Fellows by saying, “It’s hard to capture people’s hearts, but when you do, they will move mountains for you.”       

On Tuesday, Neena Newberry led a discussion in the classroom about how to strengthen your presence and build a powerful network. When the Women’s Initiative Fellowship was being designed, a SMU professor’s research showed that a woman’s network is one of the best indicators of her success.  So, one of the  goals of the Fellowship is that the women build a strong and reliable network which will expand to create a global women’s network, enabling women to become powerful advocates for change and progress.

Newberry explained that as the Fellows think about their goals for the year and consider how they are perceived – their “desired brand” – they can better assess what a powerful network will look like for their success. Meaningful networks are about quality over quantity. In some instances, it’s about expanding the network, and in in others, it’s about building stronger relationships. Newberry told the Fellows that many of them already have connections that can be leveraged for an even greater professional circle.

And perhaps most exciting of all, the Fellows realized that their own powerful networks can start with each other.  The Tunisian women represent six important sectors of society: education, health, business, politics, law, and media. They each bring different skills and areas of expertise to the group, and by forming a network, their power only multiplies. It’s a start to moving mountains.