Influence is trust, and the ability to get someone to act or change the way they think: the heat in the fire that is a personal brand. Lesson 6 of Personal Branding 101: An Unrivaled Series, from subchapter 1.6 of Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence, narrated by Isaac Mashman. Free, with no sign-up.
Influence is trust, and the ability to get someone to act or change the way they think: the heat in the fire that is a personal brand.
A doctor recommends a surgery you don't see the point in. You say yes anyway. Why? Welcome to Personal Branding 101. I'm Isaac Mashman, founder of Mashman Consulting Group and author of Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence.
This is lesson 6, Influence. Influence is represented by trust and the ability to get someone to take action or change the way that they think. Influence is the heat to the fire that is your personal brand. Without it, there is no depth to your reputation.
Influence is established with action and service, and it is validated through edification. Edification means other people vouching for you. Your own claims can read as bias. Theirs read as evidence.
Take the student fresh out of high school. They want a career but lack any influence outside of their peer group. So they earn a degree hoping it will make the person in charge of hiring feel more confident about bringing them on board. Add the university's reputation, extracurriculars, certifications, and a professor's recommendation, and that student may land the better position.
The opposite is true too. If you are known for being ill-mannered, a scam artist, or unreliable, no one will look to you for guidance. Back to the doctor. Someone does not have to fully believe in what you are telling them to do if they trust your intentions or your expertise.
The doctor's credibility gives you faith despite your doubts, and that is exactly why influence can be abused. The opioid crisis occurred in large part because of the very thing we just discussed. Influence itself is impartial.
The aftermath of that influence is not. This is why the Manifesto is about fame and influence together. Without influence, fame is useless, and without a degree of fame, influence has no reach. As your influence grows, you can begin to concentrate it.
Concentrated influence allows you to direct banked attention towards achieving a particular goal, selling more copies of your book, landing larger features in the press, closing a prospect, getting the job you want. So put it to work.
Ask three people whose names carry weight in your field to say, in writing, what working with you was like. Use their words, not yours, wherever you are introduced, then choose one goal for the next 90 days and point your influence at it. So here is your question.
Who are the people who have influence over you? And how did they obtain it? Every lesson in this series comes from my book, Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence. Next is lesson 7, The 4 Pillar Questions.
I'll see you there.
Each lesson takes one subchapter of Education, the Manifesto’s opening chapter, and animates it in a few minutes: the foundation the rest of the book, and the firm’s work, is built on.
In one word: you. What a personal brand is, how it differs from a company brand, where the term came from, and why it already exists before anyone sets out to build it.
Watch Lesson 1, 3:50Pharaohs, kings, and conquerors: people have carried personal brands for as long as there has been history, and the names that lasted are still studied today.
Watch Lesson 2, 2:59Why personal branding is the world's oldest form of branding, long before any company had a logo.
Watch Lesson 3, 3:08Leaders of the last 150 years, why personality can outweigh promises, a tattoo artist who put her village on the map, and a personal brand started on one phone.
Watch Lesson 4, 3:06Fame is the result of accumulated attention: what it is, how relative it is, and why on its own it is useless.
Watch Lesson 5, 3:06Influence is trust, and the ability to get someone to act or change the way they think: the heat in the fire that is a personal brand.
Watch Lesson 6, 3:13The four questions the firm asks its clients for clarity before the work begins, starting with why.
Watch Lesson 7, 3:33A six-level pyramid for the reach a personal brand can aspire to, and how to see where yours stands.
Watch Lesson 8, 5:13A doctor recommends a surgery you don't see the point in. You say yes anyway. Why? Welcome to Personal Branding 101. I'm Isaac Mashman, founder of Mashman Consulting Group and author of Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence.
This is lesson 6, Influence. Influence is represented by trust and the ability to get someone to take action or change the way that they think. Influence is the heat to the fire that is your personal brand. Without it, there is no depth to your reputation.
Influence is established with action and service, and it is validated through edification. Edification means other people vouching for you. Your own claims can read as bias. Theirs read as evidence.
Take the student fresh out of high school. They want a career but lack any influence outside of their peer group. So they earn a degree hoping it will make the person in charge of hiring feel more confident about bringing them on board. Add the university's reputation, extracurriculars, certifications, and a professor's recommendation, and that student may land the better position.
The opposite is true too. If you are known for being ill-mannered, a scam artist, or unreliable, no one will look to you for guidance. Back to the doctor. Someone does not have to fully believe in what you are telling them to do if they trust your intentions or your expertise.
The doctor's credibility gives you faith despite your doubts, and that is exactly why influence can be abused. The opioid crisis occurred in large part because of the very thing we just discussed. Influence itself is impartial.
The aftermath of that influence is not. This is why the Manifesto is about fame and influence together. Without influence, fame is useless, and without a degree of fame, influence has no reach. As your influence grows, you can begin to concentrate it.
Concentrated influence allows you to direct banked attention towards achieving a particular goal, selling more copies of your book, landing larger features in the press, closing a prospect, getting the job you want. So put it to work.
Ask three people whose names carry weight in your field to say, in writing, what working with you was like. Use their words, not yours, wherever you are introduced, then choose one goal for the next 90 days and point your influence at it. So here is your question.
Who are the people who have influence over you? And how did they obtain it? Every lesson in this series comes from my book, Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence. Next is lesson 7, The 4 Pillar Questions.
I'll see you there.
Read further: Fame and Influence, Building Credibility, and Chapter 1 of the Manifesto (opens in a new tab).
The chapter the series is drawn from, word for word from the Second Edition.
Read Chapter 1 (opens in a new tab)The firm’s full answer, with the laws, the pillars, and the Hierarchy in one place.
Read the GuideSee where your own personal brand stands across the five pillars of Identity Positioning™.
Take the Brand AuditEngagements are accepted by application and seats are limited each quarter. Tell us who you are, what you are building, and the position you intend to hold.
Consultations are virtual or in person. See what each includes, and what is asked of you: Virtual or In Person.
