MODERN LEADERSHIP
The new tools of influence
in the modern workplace
By Yamini Naidu
W
hat drives us to reach
our full potential? The
opportunity to exercise
influence and shape how things are
done, according to CEB Global’s
recent talent report. Successful
business people know that influence
can make the difference between
reaching their full potential or
falling short and, keeping clients or
losing them. Our business success
38 ModernBusiness
June 2016
depends on our ability to influence
people and outcomes.
The military model of ‘command and
control’, or hard power was the first
blueprint for workplace influence.
‘Get on the phone and don’t hang
up until the customer buys or dies’,
stockbroker Jordan Belfort orders
his salespeople in the movie The
Wolf of Wall Street. Belfort (the wolf
in the title) exemplifies hard power.
Hard power rules through fear. It
destroys discretionary effort, stifles
creativity and crushes innovation.
This model worked in the industrial
era, but it fails with knowledge
workers who don’t respond to it.
Hard power hurts – you, other people
and your chances of success.
Then business professionals