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How Do You Moveo Moti Motum? (Influence)

Writer's picture: Dan Freschi - EDGEDan Freschi - EDGE

Updated: Jan 15

If you're not up on your Latin, "Moveo Moti Motum" is Latin for Influence. When searched on Google, Influence garners over 135 million results. So, what is influence? When Moveo Moti Motum is translated from Latin, it means to move, arouse, affect, and influence. Using my favorite dictionary sites, Influence is defined as:

the power to change or affect someone or something : the power to cause changes without directly forcing them to happen : a person or thing that affects someone or something in an important way : the power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible ways

This definition applies to negative and positive influences. Both can be equally powerful. Your level of influence comes from various sources. Your expertise, credibility, position and objectives, as well as your visibility and alignment with the organization, all increase your ability to influence others positively.


In the workplace, at home, and at school, we need to accomplish our goals whenever we communicate and interact with other humans. This need requires a focus on synergy and a savvy influence ability because you may or may not be able to exercise pure power or authority in the situation.

Synergy + Influence

And, even if you are in a position of power or authority, consider what Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States and a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II, says about influencing others:

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

This holds for everyone, including parents, coaches, and neighbors it’s not just leaders.


So, influence can equal leadership. Renowned author and speaker John C. Maxwell believes:

Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.

If you think about it, we rely on influence to get everything we do done. Whether getting approval for spending beyond your budget, placing items onto an agenda for the next executive meeting, or sharing the importance of practice with your kids, your ability to influence matters.


A key component and the first step to improving your ability to influence is a thorough understanding of yourself and your interpersonal, presentation, communication and assertiveness abilities. Consider taking one of the best assessments on the market today, Everything DiSC, to learn your current influence abilities. With the market full of DISC-type assessments, this is the original and most helpful in life and business.


Adapting your style when you become aware of your effect on others while still being true to yourself is vital to building your influence.


Consider the following bestselling resources as you seek to develop the “how to” of your influence ability.


Influence

In his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, the 6 Principles that help to get influence over people, Dr. Robert Cialdini shares the results from his deep research about the various strategies held by people to influence their peers. The 6 Principles of Influence/Persuasion that Dr. Cialdini shares are:

Reciprocity, Scarcity/rarity, Commitment & consistency, Consensus/Social proof, Authority, and Liking.
Crucial Influence

Similarly, in their book Crucial Influence Leadership Skills to Create Lasting Behavior Change, authors Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler take us on a journey to discover vital behaviors we want to change, show us how to convince ourselves and others to change minds, and truly master the six sources of influence. Those include Personal motivation, Personal ability, Social motivation, Social ability, Structural motivation, and Structural ability.


In Persuasion: The Art of Influencing People, author James Borg argues that empathy and sincerity are the fundamental building blocks of successful persuasion.


Empathy is the bedrock of communication—identifying and understanding the other person's feelings, ideas and situation. Sincerity is essential for generating trust. Borg warns that no amount of learning about communication skills without these core virtues will succeed in the long term.




 

References

Borg, J. (2007). Persuasion: The art of influencing people. Harlow: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Cialdini, R. B. (2007). Influence: The psychology of persuasion. New York: Collins.

Patterson, K. (2008). Influencer: The power to change anything. New York: McGraw-Hill.

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