By Danny DeCota
Most professionals are eager to positively influence people through their work. However, even with their best efforts, they may feel their impact is fairly limited. Fortunately, it’s easier than they may realize to broaden it.
Become a Thought Leader in Adjacent Topics
Accessibility is a significant factor that can help many of today’s professionals influence bigger audiences. That’s especially true in cases where someone’s main specialty is something highly specific, such as medicine or law. However, opportunities may exist to give input on topics that are of interest to broader segments of people.
For example, Dr. Jason Campbell has given conference presentations on topics such as the complications of epidural catheters. However, he also writes opinion pieces on matters including racial inequality and mental health. With that approach, he’s able to connect with fellow medical professionals, as well as people in other fields.
Think about what other interests you have that lie outside of your profession or only loosely relate to it. Then, consider if you might start offering insights as a thought leader in those areas.
Increase Your Visibility
It’s also useful to explore opportunities to become more active in community events where people will have chances to meet and talk with you. That’s an excellent way to grow your influence while doing things you enjoy.
Perhaps you love spending time outdoors. You could combine that interest with helping your community by participating in a roadside litter removal program or a tree-planting project at the local park.
Alternatively, think about offering to speak at industry conferences or high school graduations. Many professionals have done a wide assortment of impressive things in their careers. However, those accomplishments don’t necessarily get noticed immediately. Sometimes, you have to be more active in putting yourself in the spotlight to some extent before gaining traction.
Improve Your Social Media Presence
Social media certainly has its downsides. However, one of its biggest advantages relates to how it enables people to connect with others from all over the world in a matter of minutes. You could publish a post and have people react to it from multiple continents within an hour. However, individuals usually don’t build follower networks of hundreds of thousands of individuals without a concentrated effort.
Spend some time looking at the social media profiles of people you admire. Remember that a social media presence can help you show personality to the world, whether it’s your own or that of your company. How do the social media leaders use the respective platforms differently than yourself? See how you can learn from them and adjust your strategies.
Keep in mind that social media users also appreciate it when the people they follow show consistency. Maybe you sometimes post on social media every day for a week before going through long periods of rare usage. Try to address that issue, even if it means setting reminders on your phone to post more regularly or using scheduling tools to help.
These are not the only ways to become a more influential professional. However, the suggestions here will give you some useful options to try in your life and work. In closing, remember that building influence requires an ongoing effort that may take years. Staying motivated for the long term should pay off.
