INFLUENCING

Three of the eight fundamentals of INFLUENCING include:

• Share your special knowledge. No matter who your are or what you do, you have special knowledge—observations or insights about what you see happening around you that nobody else might have. It’s your job to share this with others at appropriate moments.

• Choose your words carefully. Make sure you’re perceived as helpful rather than critical. “There’s another way to do that,” will get a better response than, “You’re doing it all wrong.” If it doesn’t, the trick is to be persistent, but not annoying, and always remember that unsolicited advice is usually unwanted and resented.

• Help, teach, mentor or coach. When asked, take the time to help others improve their performance. Your influence will grow by leaps and bounds. The difference between a person who is great and one who is simply famous is how much he or she helps other people.

Being of influence spans all types of individuals in all walks of life: from accountants to coaches, from teachers to politicians. By all counts, one of the most influential people of the past century was a shy, unassuming scientist and writer who took on—and prevailed over—the U.S. government and some of the largest corporations in the United States. Her name was Rachel Carson. In 1962, when the environmental movement was little more than a slogan (“Please, please, don’t be a litter bug”) and the United States was the greatest agricultural producer ever, she shocked the world with her book, “Silent Spring.”

As early as 1945, Carson became alarmed by chemical pesticide programs that were broadcasting poisons such as DDT throughout the environment. However, the potential hazards posed by DDT soon paled in her eyes compared to a new barrage of insecticides on the horizon—dieldrin, parathion, heptachlor, and malathion. Armed with knowledge, she reluctantly stepped outside her zone of comfort to warn the public about the long-term effects of pesticides.

Based on her observations of our use and abuse of chemical pesticides, “Silent Spring” predicted dire consequences for our future—a future devoid of songbirds that announce spring. She reminded us that we are just as vulnerable as all the other living creatures on the earth and that we must stop the destruction of our planet.

Carson was attacked by the chemical industry and assailed by threats of lawsuits. She was accused of being an alarmist, and it was suggested she wasn’t qualified to write such a book.

“Silent Spring” became a runaway best seller and was read the world over. In 1963, Carson was asked to testify before Congress, and she used the opportunity to call for new policies to protect human health and the environment. Though she died of cancer the following year, her influence is felt to this day.

Forty years after she died, Rachel Carson continues to inspire new generations to protect the living world and all its creatures. She was not a born crusader, but an intelligent and dedicated woman who simply rose heroically to an occasion and used her influence to change the world.