01 Mar What Not To Do To Influence Your Superiors

We all love palace intrigue. Yesterday, in the White House, we got lucky to witness a spicy argument between the US and the Ukrainian Presidents that ended badly.

I’d not have believed it if any mainstream media had reported it. These days, I don’t know who and what to believe…

To be clear, there might have been worse arguments among leaders in high places, but they didn’t make it to the cameras.

Around the world, people are still in shock about what transpired in DC.

The Russia – Ukraine war is a highly sensitive issue that has divided the world. As a result, you’ll hear arguments that favor Trump while criticizing Zelensky and vice versa.

I’m not here to add my voice and take sides…

As a leadership expert, I’ve trained eyes to look for leadership lessons from major events like this one.

One leadership skill set we help our participants and coachees develop is how to INFLUENCE UPWARD. Though the relationship between the two Presidents isn’t identical to the leader-follower relationships in workplaces and marketplaces, Zelensky came to the US to influence Trump, who had ALL the cards.

You don’t need to be a geopolitical analyst to recognize that Trump had leverage over Zelensky. I don’t think so but if Zelensky came to piss Trump off intentionally, he succeeded and there is no lesson to learn…

But, if he came to influence Trump, he failed, to say the least.

As a learning professional, I’m always hunting for REAL-LIFE STORIES to share practical lessons with our participants and coachees- Both what to do and what not to do.

While watching Trump, Zelensky, and Vance exchange punches, I wrote down some lessons from this episode. I’ll share these so that leaders in the market and workplaces can contextualize them to their objective conditions on the ground, go out boldly, and influence their superiors effectively and effortlessly.

I won’t share the lessons here and in writing to ensure that I give the full context and avoid creating unintended misinterpretations.

I’ll soon record a video clip with the hope that you may take some leadership lessons on WHAT NOT TO DO when you attempt to influence your boss, or for that matter anyone who has more leverage over you.

Stay tuned!