Influence without Authority
Ricky Rossello, the former Governor of Puerto Rico, shared with me reflection of his leadership journey when he became the Governor of Puerto Rico in 2017. Trained as a chemical engineer from MIT and received his PhD in University of Michigan on biomedical engineering, Ricky also had experience in entrepreneurship and political experience by founding an advocacy group for the statehood of Puerto Rico as well as a biomedical research company on drug development.
Upon his election, he had a specific and action oriented plan to reform the government and also a detailed plan for executing the reforms. He mentioned during the conversation that he even developed a mathematical model “for reforming the friction, the sort of momentum moving forward, the time dependency, what things you know, add to it, what things subtract from it, and so forth“.
Here is how he described his perspectives:
“A lot of reforms are not going to work. But if you just stay put in a time of change that requires change, you're going to fail just by by inaction.”
“I was very much matter of fact, I thought that my actions were going to speak for me but really, but words sometimes speak louder than actions in politics.”
He reflected that although his plan and credibility ”got me in the door, and it was good, and it's good for project management for getting results, is not very good for getting the hearts of people.” He reminisced on, upon some of the initial successes, how he could have done more to emotionally connect with his people by sharing his visions and actions with people before initiating further changes.
Leading and influencing have somewhat different connotations in the context of leadership. However, no leaders can lead in vacuum and every leader needs to have the skills to influence others in order to carry out his or her vision. The word "influencer" is thrown around a lot today, especially in the increasingly virtual world including many on this LinkedIn platform. Everyone wants to become someone of influence. In the business world, influence without authority is also increasingly defined as an important leadership quality in todays increasingly matrix organization. All of us have experienced situations where success hinges on the cooperation of several people across your organization over whom you have no formal authority. Learning to make effective arguments for influence without authority is important in every facet of business activities. Successes of those initiatives, especially during time of uncertainties and time of change, can define individual career as well as business success.
Recognize the importance of influencing or persuading others is nothing new. It turns out Aristotle had thought about exactly the same question for persuasion twenty four hundred years ago while he was sitting on the top of the Acropolis (Photo). He proposed the framework that arguments are more persuasive when applied in three distinct but inseparable dimensions in his treatise Rhetorica:
Logos: appealing to logic - coherence, structure, facts, statistics, research
Ethos: appealing to credibility - reputation, trustworthiness, presence, confidence
Pathos: appealing to emotion - humor, metaphor, framing, images, storytelling
People with technical background, certainly including myself, often intuitively focus on the facts, logics and statistics when we try to exert influence or drive changes. More often than not, we get frustrated when it seems the answers are seemingly so obvious to us, yet so hard to be accepted by others. It can become even more frustrating when things only start to move only after someone else pitches the same idea.
Former Vice President of ExxonMobil Chemical Technology Will Cirioli shared his perspective at a University of Florida interview: “A lot of times I think when you come from an engineering background, you feel like if you're right, then everybody else will just understand that and superior logic will prevail. So I think you have to learn a lot of influencing skills along the way. And you need to look at things from a different perspective. And as you progress as a leader you tend to do more through others. And so the key is to understand things from from a perspective of others. And that takes a lot of active listening.”
Once you reflect on those experiences, you would recognize that what was lacking was typically not your technical expertise or your logic, rather your credibility, or lack of, in the organization. It is especially true if you are a junior or new members on a team, or a perceived “outsider” for whatever reason. What does it take to establish credibility in an organization? Credibility is mostly based two components: expertise and trust. Although expertise is the foundation for credibility, it is only necessary not sufficient. Without trust, expertise is simply not going to be accepted by others or the organizations. Trust is the enabler of any relations. There is no universal roadmap on how to establish trust, but I will just highlight two aspects: culture difference and authenticity. There are significant differences in inherent trust level across different cultures. Some trust unless you prove otherwise, others do not trust unless you can demonstrate you are trustworthy. In a global business environment, the best approach is to be authentic and have transparent conversation to avoid misunderstanding or misplaced expectations.
The third component of Aristotle’s persuasion framework is about emotion. While creating emotional connection is likely the key driver for those overnight influencers in the virtual world, it is generally not how it works in the business world. In order to have emotional connection with those you want to influence, you have to take the time and effort to understand their priorities and concerns, the more you can understand their emotional needs, the more likely you can frame your message for emotional connection. It is not a manipulation but to have conscious communication in a way they can resonate and understand. I should emphasize that part of appealing to emotion also includes the ability to listen the other side of perspective. It is through those emotional connection that both sides can create clarity, gain insights and unearth the real truth. This is a skill which does not always natural for people with technical background or people from a different culture. One has to be intentional in developing the skills in order to excel. Business leaders could benefit from some of the skills politicians use for campaigning or governing, especially with the increased focus on ESG in the business environment and need to connect with both employees and society.
Aristotle’s ethos, pathos, and logos provide a clear and easy-to-apply framework for developing influence in organization. With practice and reflection, we can all learn and grow. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle said it well.
