You are an influencer

You’d be surprised about how many people you influence throughout your life, even just your adult life. Just think about it:

• Your spouse
• Your siblings
• Your parents
• Your friends
• Your kids
• Your co-workers
• Your employees

• People you mentor/teach
• Your clients, customers or patients
• People you present to in a group (small or large)
• Your business partner
• People you interact with on a day-to-day basis
• The list could go on

So, there are at least two things to think about. One is to realize that you really touch a lot of lives and you can make a difference in those lives to a greater or lesser extent. The other is to decide what kind of influencer you want to be. Perhaps a third is to know that you will never know how you influenced many, if not most, of the people you influenced.

What kind of influencer do you want to be? There are, of course, different roles for the different groups you influence, but overall do you want your influence to make their lives a little better or a little worse? You may not be set out to make their lives a little worse or maybe you did. Either way, unless you remember that, you are going to leave a lasting impression at some level and decide what kind of impression you are actually leaving. Think about it, it could make a big difference to someone’s life!

Let me tell you about a very influential person who forgot until it was too late that he was a big influencer. One of my favorite all-time bands was Emerson, Lake and Palmer or ELP. In fact, I went to Montreal in the late 1970’s to see them perform live. Check out this clip of Keith Emerson on his spinning piano (not from the Montreal concert, but he did it for us too).

It was a great show, and ELP made some ground-breaking contributions to music…This is related, trust me — let me tell you why for those who haven’t guessed.

Keith Emerson, the keyboardist, committed suicide on March 11th of this year because he suffered from muscle and nerve damage and couldn’t take disappointing his fans at an upcoming Tokyo concert. Well, I guess he really disappointed them, but that’s my point. Perhaps if he had thought about how many thousands and thousands of people he had positively influenced (me included), he may have thought better of taking his own life?

My friend and colleague Ron Rosenberg (check out his newsletter) was apparently also struck by Kieth Emerson’s suicide as he wrote in his newsletter about Rachel Flowers who is blind, but started learning piano at age 2 and started lessons at the  Southern California Conservatory of Music when she was four. But it was Keith Emerson’s music that drove her passion and had her practicing until she is an accomplished pianist. Check out this video of her playing The Endless Enigma (watch the whole thing, but especially at 2:23 where she smiles at finishing an especially hard portion).

Rachel had even met Keith Emerson several times…..maybe, just maybe if he thought of how he influenced Rachel, he’d still be with us today.

Who are you influencing and how are you influencing them? And remember most importantly that you are influencing people everyday, and don’t minimize it!