One of the folks I think of when I think of influential leaders is Maya Angelou. She may not be the first person to come to mind for most people but she’s the epitome of a leader to me. Indeed she has a magical way with words. She is a melodic genius and I definitely feel emotion as I read her poetry. But she is more than that. She has influenced folks, such as myself, to think and therefore behave differently.
Leader
What I remember the most about Ms. Angelou is the story of her asking someone to leave one of her dinner parties after saying a bigoted statement. I don’t recall which group of people the guest offended and it really doesn’t matter. What mattered is that she rejected bigotry and therefore took on a personal social risk. She could have let the comment go and focused on the other guests but she kicked the person out anyway. Her actions and words have encouraged us to think more about tolerance and peace in our day to day lives. She has had great influence, she is an influential leader.
Influential leader
And hearing about her taking that stand has greatly influenced me. I grew up around great women but they would never publically confront another adult’s behavior, regardless how wrong it was. We were pretty much taught it was wrong to be confrontational. To keep people in their “place”, we have been taught confrontation is wrong, but it’s not. I will speak to this in another post but hopefully you get my point: taking a stand is good. Leaders will often naturally take a stand, this action influences others and they eventually become known as an influential leader.
Be confident that leaders influence.
Influence will encourage desired change.
Therefore our influence as leaders will make change possible.
Change makes success possible.
Each of us entrepreneurs have this power to be influential leaders.
Each of us can be successful.
Entrepreneur Influential Leader
We are already leaders in our social lives, personal lives, and professional lives. We influence others within those circles currently. And we will be influential leaders in our entrepreneur lives as well. As we take calculated risks, focus on people, and strategically make long term decisions on a daily basis, we will influence those around us.
Please share in the comments below, 3 folks you are influencing in terms of your social life, personal life, professional life and entrepreneur life.
Thanks so much for this post! Very inspiring.
Silence is another form of acceptance. But, it is definitely hard to stand up and say what’s right. But, the fact that ordinary people do it means that we can to.
Thanks so much for sharing, and thanks for reminding us to be bold and courageous.
Jennifer, great point about ordinary people. It makes it more relatable.