Commanding Influence. We can command influence from anywhere and everywhere. Influence and leadership are intertwined and inseparable. The relationship between influence and leadership is like the relationship between fish and water, when you take a fish out of water, it dies.
You cannot lead without influence but you can influence without leading. An example of this is Prophet Eli and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. Eli was particular about doing the activities that surrounded his leadership but he forgot to influence his children and they began to do things that God did not approve of. When you talk about leading somebody, if you’ve not affected the values, beliefs and character of the person, then you haven’t led the person. Eli assumed that he was leading well but his children did not pick up the things that God expected of them, and Eli couldn’t call them to order. He failed at influencing his children and God told him that he would punish him because of that.
Whether you recognise it or not, you are influencing someone positively or negatively. Influencing is so important that it is now a very big industry in the digital world, and in this space you see a lot of negative and positive influencing going on. There are currently not only product influencers but thought influencers as well, you have to guard your mind. You must develop an independency of mind to have your own opinion and know what is best for you. As a leader, you are a thought influencer, but you have to be careful of the kind of influence you are commanding. You have to be careful of the kind of leadership script you are acting out, is it of God or is it of the devil?
