Influence & Impact for Leaders Ep 173 – How to be a more Influential Leader
Oct 21, 2024
Carla Miller, leadership coach, author and trainer who empowers women leaders. She shares stories from becoming a director at 29 and how bias shaped her confidence. Topics include building a personal leadership brand, influencing peers with a practical six-step approach, starting well with a new boss, handling difficult conversations, and confidence tools for intimidating senior people.
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Early Director Role Sparked Coaching Mission
- Carla became a director at 29 working in charity fundraising and often felt underestimated in meetings full of older men.
- That experience created imposter feelings which later motivated her to coach thousands of women leaders.
Set A Personal Leadership Brand Before Meetings
- Before intimidating meetings, choose a personal leadership brand by picking 1–3 words like expert or strategic to filter how you speak and act.
- Carla's client used 'expert' and the stakeholder explicitly deferred to her twice after she showed up with that mindset.
Six Steps To Influence Your Peers
- Use Carla's six-step influencing model for peers: build relationship, understand them, know what they need, know what you need, acknowledge their perspective, then propose a joint starting point.
- She applied it with consulting clients and it shifted dynamics from conflict to joint problem solving.