My thoughts: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (out of 5)

In this book, ” Growing Influence – A story of how to lead with character, expertise & impact”, Ron Price and Stacy Ennis brings you through a story of a woman at what it seems the ceiling of her career and unable to break through, had an unexpected chance of meeting an ex-ceo who became her mentor and helped her rethink possibility through a different looking glass. It is a fiction written for a non-fiction audience, and the story heart-warming and real. I actually shedded a tear when the book ended.

Why do I love it? Whether you believe it or not, sometimes fate happens. I chanced upon this book on my work trip to New York a couple months ago, during a time in my career where I did not have a clear view of where I was going next, and frustration was looming over me. It helped me get grounded and back to the core basics of rediscovering who I am, how I want to resonate to others, and how to form myself as a leader.

I love reading this book, and encourage anyone who is having a hard time figuring out their role and how they can grow and positively influence others without loosing themselves.

Highlights and Ideas from the book:

• There are three areas of influence; Control, Collaboration and Concern – whichever of these areas you choose to focuse on, they will grow, and usually at the expense of the others. Imagine them as three ballons that share the same pool of air, when one grow, the other shrinks.
  • Control – These are areas that are 100% within your control.
    • Such as you defining boundaries towards your morning focus time, or time that you wake up, or afternoon quiet hours.
    • No one can take this area of influence from you, unless you let them, and there is no one to blame except yourself
  • Collaboration – Finding others in the company or your social circle who want the same thing as you want and work with them to achieve it.
    • e.g. Banding together to form a social club or for something that you advocate for. Starting a hackaton or even a simple board-game evening to get folks together – “virtuous conspiracy”,
  • Concerns – Areas of the company or your surrounding that you cannot directly influence as this moment.
    • e.g. who will be promoted as the new VP, acquisition, politics etc.

• There are three dimensions of leadership ; Character, Expertise and Structural/positional. A great leader has a blend of these three dimensions.
  • Character – they often influence without authority and inspire loyalty because of who they are and based off their character and integrity (on their values) and not their position.
    • e.g. the admin, chief-of-staff, your peers that you enjoy working with
  • Expertise – influence others through what they know and have accomplished. Using their expertise to create real value for others and improving the lives of others. There are ways to continue growing in your field – (1)continue to amass experience and build on the same expertise and (2) build a new expertise that will benefit your current company or self-enrich yourself.
    • Building expertise is just like doing a PHD – (1) Figure out what you want to focus on (2) find experts in those area and follow them (3) develop your POV and get mentorship (4) validate and share with others (dissertation)
  • Positional – influencing others based on title  (Director, Manager, VP, CEO etc.) Note that you are occupying a position and without integrity (following rules of your position etc, measuring and advancing your team value, managing relationship with grace yet candor) and the other two leadership dimensions you will not succeed for the long-run.
    • People are more critical to anyone in a positional leadership role, anything that the person does gets amplified, both the good and the bad. It can be a lonely position if that is all to your name.

• Three things great leaders do
  • Turn problems into opportunities –  We hear this often and yet it is true, if we see the bright side of things and always take problems in stride as something to learn from and opportunities to grow or make something big, we will live a much more fulfilled life
  • Inspires others to make commitments they wouldn’t otherwise make –  from small things like giving space for someone to voice their pov, to stretching themselves, to even exploring their long-desired career or life goals (e.g. give it all up and travel the world).
  • They transend self-interest and self-promotion, and focus on passion often bigger than themselves – less on the competition and visibility but more on following their dreams
• Personal Values –  What are the values that are important in (1) how you want to govern yourself and (2) how you want others to relate to you. The book emphasizes the importance of knowning yourself and who you really are as self-awareness is the foundation of many things to come.