How do you influence people? Do you influence them intentionally? Do you influence them in a positive way? Are you even a person of influence? Do people listen when you speak? John Maxwell lists influence as number two on his list of the twenty one laws of leadership. You must have influence with people if you desire to be a leader.

In life and in leadership you will be influenced and you will also influence others. The degree to which you can influence people is the key to success. Influencing people to become great will help you to succeed. There is also a flip side of influence; allowing great people to influence you will help you to influence others. Before you ever become a person of influence, first you must become influenced. Winston Churchill said, “Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself. Before you can move their tears, your own must flow. To convince them, you must first yourself believe.”

In 1832, at the age of twenty three, Abraham Lincoln  wanted to serve his country in the war against Black Hawk and the Sac and Fox Indians of Northern Illinois. The government had called for  volunteers to help drive these Indians back into their land beyond the Mississippi. In those days, the person who put together a group of volunteers often became its leader. So with no experience as a soldier, and no experience leading men into battle, Lincoln was given the rank of captain of this company.

Lincoln soon found himself in a very awkward position, he soon found that he did not have any influence with these men. Having never received influence from anybody as a soldier, he did not have the ability to influence his soldiers. He knew nothing of tactics. He knew nothing of procedure. He knew nothing of military jargon. So he couldn’t even give the right commands to his men. On one occasion, he was trying to guide his men through a gate from one field to the next, but he couldn’t manage to do it. Remembering the incident, Lincoln said, “I could not for the life of me remember the proper word of command for getting my company endwise. Finally, as we came near the gate I shouted: ‘This company is dismissed for two minutes, when it will fall in again on the other side of the gate.'”

In the few weeks after this, Lincoln and his company of soldiers marched northward and westward all the way to the Mississippi. They never did any fighting, they were never even able to find any Indians. Other, more able companies, finally tracked these Indians down and defeated them at Bad Axe on the Mississippi River in July of that same year.

Lincoln’s career as a Captain lasted only four weeks. Lincoln though was not done. He did not want to end his military career on such a negative note. He enlisted again to a company of mounted rangers. This time he became a private. He had learned the lesson that He needed to be influenced by a captain before he would ever be able to influence as a captain. We know the rest of the story. Lincoln overcame his inability to influence others and became a person of enormous influence as our nation’s finest president.

We can all take a lesson from Lincoln and Churchill in this area. To be a true Captain, you must first go through the process of becoming a Captain. Just because you have been given the title does not mean you will have the ability to influence the people. Just because you have been elected as pastor, does not mean people see you as their pastor. You must go through the process of becoming their pastor. You must have sat under men who were your pastor and you must have received their influence into your life.

Statistics show that it takes about five or six years of leading people before they become totally persuaded of your leadership. Becoming a person of influence is a process that never ends. We can improve ourselves on an ongoing basis. Here are a few tips that will help you:

1.     You must be aware of influence.

     a.     Most people are not even aware that every human interaction involves a process of persuasion and influence.

     b.     If you are not aware, you are the one who is probably being influenced rather than influencing.

2.     You must have experience to influence people.

     a.     People relate to experiences.

     b.     Experience breeds trust.

3.     You must have past success in your area of influence.

     a.     People will follow somebody who has had past success.

4.     Establish rapport

     a.     Rapport is being in ‘sync’ with or ‘on the same wavelength’ as the person with whom you are trying to influence.

     b.     To influence somebody you have to be able to appreciate and understand the other person’s standpoint.

     c.      This works both ways.