How to Become an Influential Leader

For Product Managers and Emerging Leaders

Most people who aspire to greater levels of responsibility are often advised to learn to influence others. For me, it was a familiar refrain by my bosses earlier in my career. I always found it difficult to get my head around because it was advice for what to do, not how to do it.

There’s an inescapable relationship between the ability to lead and the ability to influence others. While many recognize this connection, few understand how to develop these skills systematically. The purpose of this article is to explore four fundamental areas that will help you become more influential and, by extension, a more effective leader. Each area builds upon the others, creating a comprehensive framework for leadership through influence.

Basics of Influence
Building Credibility
Strategic Relationship Building
Persuasive Communication

To begin your journey toward influential leadership, I want to clarify the fundamental nature of influence itself so you have a clear understanding.

Basics of Influence

What is Influence? Influence refers to one’s ability to affect outcomes and drive change without relying on formal authority (or direct force). To become influential, or to enhance your capability as an influencer, you must be able to Inspire alignment with others through the creation of meaningful relationships. As a leader, you’re harmonizing the efforts of others. Like any good politician, you need to understand the key motivations of others with whom you work. You can’t dictate to anyone because you don’t have positional power like a CEO might. Therefore, the next three areas are important to consider.

Understanding what influence is and how it operates lays the groundwork, but to effectively exercise influence, you must first establish yourself as someone worth following (this is fundamental to effective leadership). This is where building credibility becomes essential.

Building Credibility

Earned credibility is the degree to which you are perceived as trustworthy, reliable, and believable by others. There are three key “areas of credibility” that need to be nurtured.

Business credibility. Here’s where you are a person who formulates strategy and directly impacts outcomes based on that strategy. There’s also an implication that you’re a data-driven person who makes decisions and follows through.
Technical or domain credibility. This is how you demonstrate your expertise and excellence. You may be an engineer or scientist. You may have a background in operations or finance. When others see you as an effective subject matter expert or thought leader, they’re more likely to follow your lead.
Personal credibility. These reflect personal and professional attributes that are associated with how you’re seen. When you can be relied upon, you’re accessible, and communicative (among others), people may defer to you.

While strong credibility across these three dimensions creates a solid foundation for influence, it’s not enough to simply be credible. Your sphere of influence expands through your purposeful efforts to demonstrate your credibility within your evolving professional network.

Strategic Relationship Building

Strategic relationship building refers to the “orchestration of purposeful alliances.” This emphasizes the deliberate cultivation of connections that advance organizational goals while creating value for those involved. I use the term strategic because it’s purposeful. You must figure out who’s who, who does what with whom, and how people interact with one another. From this, you could sketch out a relationship map (think of a “playing field” in sports) to show pathways of interaction and communication. With this map in hand, you can purposefully cultivate conversations, fortify communication, and create a collaborative spirit among people who may have different agendas.

The final piece of the influence puzzle lies in how you foster persuasive communication. Even with strong credibility and strategic relationships, our ability to influence depends on how effectively we can convey our ideas and inspire action.

Persuasive Communication

Persuasive communication is the ability to articulate ideas in ways that authentically connect with stakeholders’ needs and priorities. Persuasive communication requires that you understand your audience (through the strategic relationships you develop) and relies on the credibility earned to effectively communicate well-structured messages. Unlike traditional communication where people try to keep each other informed, persuasive communication can be used to influence outcomes or drive optimal decisions.

Summary

Becoming an influential leader is a journey that begins with understanding the basics of influence – the art of affecting outcomes without relying on formal authority. This foundation is strengthened through building credibility across business, technical, and personal dimensions. As you map and cultivate strategic relationships, you create the networks through which your influence can flow. Finally, persuasive communication becomes the vehicle that transforms your credibility and relationships into tangible results.

Remember, influence isn’t about wielding power over others; it’s about creating an environment where people naturally align with your vision because they trust your judgment, value your expertise, and believe in your ability to lead them toward shared success. By mastering these four areas, you’ll develop the kind of influence that doesn’t just drive immediate results but builds lasting leadership impact.

If you like this article, I created a micro-learning and certificate course you (or others) may want to utilize as part of your professional development strategy.

To learn more visit:

https://online.sequentlearning.com/course/building-influence