Have you ever wondered why we at Kenzai.com keep banging on about blogging and reading and commenting on the blogs of others? Simple answer: groups help create accountability and support you in your endeavor. Let’s dive into this a bit.
In his book “Invisible Influence”, author Jonah Berger posits a couple of ideas that we here at Kenzai could probably relate to.
1) We are influenced far more by social factors that we may care to admit to. These affect our decisions and even our view of ourselves. In short we are social beings. Let’s just accept that and move on.
2) The good news is, once we are aware of this “invisible influence” we can use it to our advantage. Yipee!
3) We often just imitate others and adopt their opinions because it saves us time. This is true even of emotions. How many times have we hit “like” on social media just because we’ve seen so many friends do this? Or, you’re having a hard day, you just don’t have the energy to work out, you open up the blogs, and your teammate has somehow managed to scrape through her workout…see how this could help you?
4) We also love familiarity - seeing the same faces everyday make them dearer to us makes us feel closer to them. We haven’t become the Kenzai ‘family” by accident.
5) Other people can be the source of motivation for us -we perform better under the gaze of others who may be holding us accountable, or in competition with (imagine if you ran alone versus in a race).
So you see where this is going? But let’s explore one more concept – that of power. Power doesn’t belong only to that fine gentleman with the orange hair. We each have power and we use it on a daily basis by being influencers – at work, as parents, as leaders and now, as trainees.
Now here’s where it gets really interesting (I loosely reference “The Power Paradox” by Dacher Ketlner). We exercise power by influencing others (Hitler). But those who keep their power, and have the maximum influence over others, are the ones who exercise this to improve the lives of others (Mandela).
So when you display the Big Five Social Tendencies (enthusiasm, kindness, focus, calmness and openness), towards your peers, that’s when you’re truly an influencer. And when you continue to be generous and encouraging of others, show gratitude and share their own stories to bring people together you not only ascend to rockstar status, but you also reap the benefits of these yourself – better health, lower stress, and of course, greater joy!
Sandhya Krishnan
(as featured on www.Kenzai.com )