The Importance of Stewarding Your Influence

Jul 23

Do you consider yourself to be a woman of influence?

Perhaps influence feels like a loaded term in the age of social media influencers who make top dollar turning your gaze toward the products and services they endorse. After all, according to CNBC, an influencer with over a million followers can make upwards of $250,000 per post on Instagram. It pays to be a woman who can influence others.

But when I talk about influence in my work with clients, I don’t mean the kind that leads to brand sponsorships and reality television shows. I am referring to the sphere of influence you have right now in the life you’re living. That influence might be relegated to your nuclear family (particularly in a time like the pandemic when our social circles have shrunken to safe pods of connection). Or that influence might be more broad, encompassing your reach with organizations around the world, colleagues at work, friends all across the country, and even strangers who follow you on your social media platforms. Every person has some measure of influence, whether it be big or small.

“The question is not do you have influence, but rather how are you stewarding the influence you have?”

When I work with women to help them get clarity on their life purpose, I often take them through the core parts of my life planning framework. I share that every individual’s life purpose sits at the intersection of her talents, her heart, and her influence. I find that women tend to agree with me on the power of their talents, and they can understand the use of their heart in directing their lives. But when it comes to influence, they shrink back and tend to diminish the power they have to impact others.

One of my recent clients, Elisabeth Wadsworth of Paligen Capital, shared her own journey of coming to embrace her influence and privilege during an interview with Career Rockstars for their Take the Stage podcast. You can listen below to what she has to say about the power of owning her level of influence within the current conditions of her life, rather than waiting for a title, status, or future condition to empower her to make an impact.

Through transparency about her own experience, Elisabeth challenges us to see our potential for impact right now in our current lives. In one moment (around the 33 minute mark of the episode), she says, “It’s much easier to think about how I might influence conversations or real change around diversity when I have a certain title or ten years from now when I’m doing whatever [future opportunity]. But the reality is I’ve had influence all along, and I have influence right now. That is a key mental shift to be thinking about—where do I have influence and how can I be using my voice immediately? Denying my influence denies me the opportunity to use my voice. And it also denies me the opportunity to hear from other people.”

About Elisabeth Wadsworth

Elisabeth is a phenomenally gifted financial advisor with an MBA from Wharton Business School. We worked together a couple of years ago to help her prepare for a career transition and to integrate the disparate passions she holds for financial stewardship, diversity and inclusion work, and life in cities. She was already doing great work when I met her and she had a vibrant personal life with meaningful connections and powerful humanitarian efforts. But she sensed that there was another level of focus she could reach and greater satisfaction to be experienced if she could tap into more of her authentic identity.

After two days of a life planning with me, Elisabeth discovered a clear sense of mission that encompassed both her professional and personal pursuits. We put language to what she does exceedingly well in the world and found the connections among her core values and passions. It’s been my privilege to watch her as she’s taken her gifts everywhere from local non-profit organizations to emerging funds that are shaping the new wave of venture capital investing. Elisabeth is also a fantastic writer, sharing insightful information about stewardship, investment, and the value of work on Medium. Enjoy this recent article she wrote on “The Great Irony of Rest: Why less is still better than more.”

Want to dig into the topic of influence a little more? Here are a few great resources you can explore to increase your own understanding of the power of your influence: