8 Traits of Highly Effective Influencers


Influencers Make the Most Out of Every Person

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People are the most important asset to an influencer. Throughout this article, that point has been highlighted. People are what drives an influencer to great leadership. They follow the influencer because they want to. They desire the knowledge and insight of the influencer. They feel a kinship to the influencer because they feel valued.

When an influencer is operating, whether around a boardroom table or in the ether of the internet, they are consistently evaluating the people around them. They are trying to understand how those people think and operate and they are appealing to those people out of a position of respect and accountability. They understand that some people want to see the big picture while others want to understand the risk.

Sean Moffit said it best, in his post titled The Art of Word of Mouth Communication:

We’re all wired differently: trendsetters want to be first in line, experts want to know the facts, opinion leaders want to know the possibilities, tastemakers want to see the big idea, social ringleaders want to know how to share it with others, mainstreamers and laggards want to reduce risk and feel safe.

Influencers “get” this and approach their community seeking to engage each individual or group in the way that best suits them.

Former President George H. W. Bush (Daddy Bush) built a consensus among 34 different “militarily engaged” nations, and many more UN members that did not commit troops during the Gulf War. As an influencer, he led by example and built a consensus in the United Nations. Wikipedia describes the lead-up to the Gulf War in this way:

Shortly after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, U.S. President George H. W. Bush started to deploy U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard units to Saudi Arabia (Operation Desert Shield), while at the same time urging other countries to send their own forces to the scene. UN coalition-building efforts were so successful that by the time the fighting (Operation Desert Storm) began on 16 January 1991, twelve countries had sent naval forces, joining the regional states of Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states, as well as the huge array of the U.S. Navy, which deployed six carrier battle groups; eight countries had sent ground forces, joining the regional troops of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the seventeen heavy and six light brigades of the U.S. Army and nine Marine regiments, with their large support and service forces; and four countries had sent combat aircraft, joining the local air forces of Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, as well as the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine aviation, for a grand total of 2,430 fixed-wing aircraft.

How does one develop and rally that kind of consensus in a geo-political climate that has as many varied interests as it does political perspectives? How does one build that kind of consensus when dealing with tribal loyalties, religious conflict and trade concerns?

Clearly, the answer is that Bush was an influencer. Each nation was lobbied according to their interests. Jordanian and Saudi officials were approached on the basis of regional aggression. European NATO allies were rallied around shared threat concerns, as they were during the Cold War and the Warsaw Pact. Eastern asian allies were cognizant of conflict on their doorsteps and their own regional and tribal conflicts that had a degree of religious conflict crossover.

Influencers approach their community seeking to engage each individual or group in the way that best suits them.”

Big picture concerns were addressed with an addressing of oil risks, in both Iraq and Kuwait. Saudi oil fields were at risk should Saddam Hussein move on from an invasion of Kuwait to an unprovoked invasion of oil-rich Saudi Arabia. Israel clearly felt threatened militarily with Iraqi possession of intermediate range missiles (SCUDs) that could (and did) reach the major Israeli cities of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa.

With so many interests at play, an influencer could build the kind of broad ranging consensus that existed in 1990.