allaboutadvocacy.com

Influence and Power

Influence keeps changing. Whereas influence used to be in the hands of powerful institutions, companies  or opinion shapers, today’s influence is decidedly with the consumer. We have heard that again and again. In a BusinessWeek article on the most influential companies, Jena McGregor wrote a few lines and quoted some people that struck me.

• Gary Hamel: “Influence is like water, always flowing somewhere.”
• Old Korea proverb: “Power lasts 10 years. Influence, not more than a hundred.”
• McGregor: “A company’s physical assets are less important now than the force of its ideas.”

 What was missing in the piece was the growing impact of Advocates to champion one’s  influence or power. Without Advocates’ fuel, the engine will stall. You can have the best idea, best product or best company, but in today’s world you need your fans, enthusiasts and advocates to advance them and make them known.  In the next decade, we will see a greater emphasis on companies and institutions reaching out more aggressively to their best customers…their Advocates.  Just wait and see.