As examined thus far in the semester, there are some traits that are more important for leaders to have than others. Power and influence are two things that happen to help leaders complete a task. Before this lesson, I tended to use influence and power as interchangeable terms because I thought they were similar. After learning the difference between the two, I realized not only how different they are, but how they can be used together effectively in many leadership combinations.
Power is something that, in my opinion, needs to be present in leadership. Bass (1990) explained power to be the potential to influence others. Power can help a leader persuade their followers to complete the task at hand. Influence is how a leader changes the followers’ attitudes or behavior as a result of influential tactics (Hamel, 2021). Influence is key in leadership situations due to the fast that it helps a group of people due something. As Hamel (2021) explains that influence comes in a variety of different ways from emotional appeals, to exchange of favors, to threats.
Since the two terms have been distinguished between, it is evident that leaders can use their power, the ability to influence, and influence, the actual act of it, to appeal to their target audience. This is present in many settings where there is even just a little bit of influence. Thinking about how there are many internet influencers, I have thought about how these people use power and influence in their daily lives/posts. Many influencers tend to get paid when they sponsor certain brands and paid even more when their followers use their discount codes. Influencers use their power and influence to get more of their followers to purchase whatever service or product they are endorsing a brand. They use their ability to influence their followers to post their brand sponsorship and their influence to actually get their followers to follow through.
Understanding the difference between power and influence can help a leader further achieve their goal. The two working together help the task get done more effectively, and they even compliment one another.
References:
Hamel, R. (n.d.). Lesson 7: Power and Influence, 2021
Northouse, Peter G., 2019, Leadership, 8th Edition, Sage Publications, Inc., 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA, 91320
Hi! Before doing the readings for this week, I also thought I could use the terms influence and power interchangeably, especially when it comes to talking about leadership. I really like how you were able to set up the definitions in the beginning, because it really helped to apply those concepts again when thinking about social media influencers. It’s really interesting how for some influencers, they try to create their own power, and set out to gain a following, while other influencers just fall into the role without intending to. It would be interesting to compare an influencer who really tried to gain the following they have, and an influencer who suddenly gained that following without meaning to, and see which influencer is more influential, has more power, or is a better leader/role model for their followers.
Hi! I also wrote about power and influence this week, but I think it’s interesting that you chose to write about the way they work in the social media realm. In the case of influencers, they literally use their influence to create power. This then means that their followers are buying something based off of their posts or are interacting with their brand to make them more money. It’s interesting how influencers have figured out how to use their influence to create power to their own benefit, and in turn create more power for themselves as more of their followers do what the influencer wants. It’s confusing because a lot of the terms overlap on social media like influencer and follower, and I think that is no coincidence.