Abstract The author, Founder and Chief Executive of The Influence Lab, discusses “the influence flip.” According to her, “traditionally, leadership influence has flowed top‐down, from Position to People . Decisions were made at the top. Your title on the org chart determined your influence. Contrast that with today: Influence now flows laterally, from Peer to Peer , with little regard for position. Authority is eroding.” What she describes as “three concurrent forces” are at play: “1. Social media is enabling peer power 2. Artificial Intelligence is democratizing information, and 3. Newer generations are rejecting the chain of command.” She outlines what she calls “The Influence Matrix.” This includes four components, in her words: 1) Domination (Selfish gain, lasting results) Manipulation (Selfish gain, temporary results) 3) Persuasion (Mutual benefit, temporary results) 4) Influence (Mutual gain, lasting results) . She follows with The Influence Cycle, in her words: Step 1, connect; step 2, convey; step 3, convince. Within step 3, she writes: “Influence starts locally and scales up. It lives deep in the organization, far beyond your senior leadership team on the org chart. Your front‐line managers are your modern influence partners—a vital part of the new lateral person‐to‐person influence that led to The Flip.”
Connie Dieken (Sun,) studied this question.