Who Gets to Be Influential?
Redefining Influence: How Authenticity and Intention Matter More Than Numbers
Who Gets to Be Influential?
Society tends to associate influence with power and wealth. In a world where it often seems that the media gets to decide who has influence, it is important to realize that individuals can decide for themselves the kind of impact they want to have. Influence is not always found at the largest charity gala or in the hands of a New York Times bestselling author. Sometimes, it can be as small as a bake sale raising money for education or a few sentences written with intention.
Change is what we make of it. Instead of waiting for inspiration or for someone else to enter the field we aspire to be a part of, we should become the inspiration we once sought. We should create the impact we longed to see.
In the age of social media, people have become obsessed with numbers. How many likes? How many views? How many comments? Influence has increasingly become synonymous with visibility, and authenticity can often be sacrificed in the pursuit of appealing to the greatest audience possible while simultaneously avoiding the relentless wrath of cancel culture.
But people are only influential because we allow them to be. We decide whose voices to listen to, whose ideas to share, and whose messages to amplify. We, too, can have influence if we choose to. In order to do so, however, it is important to shift our perspective from the audience we want to gain to the message we want to share.
Everyone has their own outlet, whether it be the written word, live performance, art, or public speaking. Anyone is capable of expressing themselves in the way that feels most natural to them. Once that outlet is found, it is only a matter of how it is used. It must be used to project the ideas we feel are most important.
When your work is authentic and built with intention, you will attract an audience that genuinely believes in you as a person, not the persona you are attempting to morph into. As women, we can't afford to be obstacles to our own potential, especially since society has so many obstacles already set in place for us. Stereotypes of women being emotional, incapable, dramatic, or unintelligible have persisted for centuries and are still found in the folds of modern-day life. We already have to work twice as hard to attain even half the success of our male counterparts, so we can't underestimate our capabilities, our impact, or our diligence.
When asked who gets to be influential, it is important to first think about the definition of influence. Every single one of us is subconsciously influencing others on a daily basis, whether it is through our tenacious work ethic, our philanthropic endeavors, or our academic pursuits. The value of influence is not dependent on its size, but on its intention.
