How to Increase Your Influence and Achieve Success

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Overheard

“If you give people free money, they will do stupid things.” - Stan Druckenmiller

Influence – the precursor to success.

Influence – the precursor to success.

I recently had the opportunity to attend a due diligence meeting with one of the most successful asset managers, Davis Advisors, in New York City.

It was a master class in influence. Influence is the precursor to success.

If you want to earn more money – you need influence over your career.

If you want to save more money – you need influence over your own ability to save.

If you want to start a business – you need influence over clients to solve their problems.

If you want to raise kind kids – you need influence over them.

You get it.

And you need more of it.

Here are a few ideas to consider to grow in influence after hearing one of my investing hero’s, Chris Davis, put on a master class on influence.

And just to put a bit more context on Chris, he sits on the board of Berkshire Hathaway with Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, along with others, and has decades worth of investing experience.

Back to influence, and a few ways you can win more influence as you seek to build an above average balance sheet.

Humor – Humor is a sign of intelligence and is a cheat code to building trust. It disarms people, is enjoyable and creates an environment, whether one on one or in a group, where people can absorb what you are saying.

Stories – facts tell, stories sell. People know what to do in most situations – largely speaking – yet the gap is often a lack of inspiration to move off the status quo. Enter stories. The ability to take complex ideas and realities and explain them in a story. This is an effective way to get your point across. Again – facts tell, stories sell.

Praise – want to be liked more? Like people more. What more affirming words in your life? Be a generous giver a compliments. Be the person who sees the good, not the bad, and calls it out forth. Words matter – but so does what’s not said.

Standards – Simply put, have sky high standards. If you want to be an NBA champ, you’ll have to shoot baskets, when no one else is looking, for thousands of hours. If your personal standards are low, that’ll be your level of influence.

Truth – this is a personal north star of mine. Telling the truth. And it was Davis’ as well. Always tell the truth, and be relentless in seeking the truth. Once you find it, tell everyone about it.

Note Taking – this is a nuanced one, but very applicable. Be the person in the room that is taking notes. Always, it shows you are listening and you are communicating to people that you care. Always take notes.

Influence is a fickle thing. Everyone wants more of it but it’s often found when you start looking at the needs of other people and solving their problems first, then yours.

That’s it for this week friends. If you found this useful. Please forward this along to a friend.

See you next week.

Tom

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