You don’t become influential by copying everybody else.

You don’t become influential by being a “nice guy.”

You don’t become influential by sidestepping whatever you’re afraid of.

You don’t become influential by obsessing about every fad, trend, and wave on the ocean surface.

You don’t become influential by inventing or seizing upon some cause that seems like a good idea at the moment. Leadership flows from deep conviction.

You don’t become influential by asking your audience to tell you who you are or what you should aspire to be.

You don’t become influential by being preoccupied with your KLOUT score. (If you need some social media widget to assure you that you’re influential… you’re not influential.)

You don’t become influential by concealing your flaws. People who achieve extended influence make no attempt to hide who they are.

You don’t become influential by avoiding confrontation or controversy.

You don’t become influential by solving the easy problems.

You don’t become influential by fearing the truth of who you are. Who you really are is a mystery that’s in the process of being revealed. It’s unseen – yet intimately familiar, because you’ve known it all long.

You don’t become influential by building on your weaknesses. If you’re 100X more influential 5 years from now than you are today, it will be because the world finally got a chance to witness you at your strongest and best.

Perry Marshall

Writing for Influence, Impact and Authority – 

May 7-9 in Chicago

http://www.perrymarshall.com/influential/

About the Author

Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.

He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.