CEOs On Leading Strategy Through Uncertainty
May 16, 2025
Having influence means more than just doing all the talking, HBR says. It’s about taking charge and understanding the roles that positional power, emotion, expertise, and nonverbal signals play. These four aspects of influence are essential to master if you want to succeed as a leader.
People with power over others tend to talk more, to interrupt more, and to guide the conversation more, by picking the topics, for example. If you don’t have the positional power in a particular situation, then, HBR says, expect to talk less, interrupt less, and choose the topics of conversation less.
What do you do if you want to challenge the positional authority? Perhaps you have a product, or an idea, or a company you want to sell, and you have the ear of someone who can buy it. How do you get control in that kind of situation? You use emotion. It is one way to counteract positional power and also dominate a conversation.
Read more: Harvard Business Review
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