How to Influence Like Gandhi

No one is required to change more than those of us who present ourselves as leaders of educational reform and transformation. And if you’re ethically influencing others, that’s you! Ethical influences reform others, cause permanent change, and transform people. Why do you need to have change in yourself before you can change others? Simply because you are required to model the behavior that you want others to adapt. No one is better known for this than Mahatma Gandhi, who started off as a lawyer and ended up becoming a thought leader. He lived with integrity, which is something that is integrated. if you are integrated with what you say, and do what you say you’re going to do, then you have integrity. If you want true, massive change as you ethically influence others, then you need to live into the advice that you’re giving them. As you’ll learn in this episode, I don’t believe that integrity is inherently either good or bad. By my definition, Gandhi had integrity, but so did Hitler and Stalin. All of these men were predictable and did what they said they were going to do. Even a dog can have integrity! Integrity is not about right or wrong; it’s about consistency, and the ability of other people to anticipate your behavior. Tune in to learn much more about integrity, as well as why experience is the only teacher, why becoming a high-end client yourself is the best (if not only) way to get your own high-end clients, why anticipation is so important and how it relates to integrity, the difference between being wealthy and rich, and much more!   In This Episode: [02:26] - Alex introduces the three key insights into becoming a highly skilled ethical influencer that he’ll cover during today’s episode. [03:21] - We hear about why ethical influencers are required to change more than perhaps anyone else. [04:13] - Alex shares the story of a woman in India who was upset that her son was eating too much sugar, and how Gandhi resolved the situation. [06:58] - We learn that Alex believes that he has to go through everything that he teaches his students. [09:05] - Alex explores his controversial definition of integrity, which he believes that Gandhi, Hitler, JFK, and Stalin all had. [10:56] - Gandhi said, “My life is my message.” Alex explains how this ties into his points about integrity, and points out that Gandhi was a leader from behind. [12:23] - Alex explains why experience isn’t the best teacher, and how this relates to integrity. [14:25] - The Alexism for today’s episode is one of Alex’s favorites: “Experience is not the best teacher. Experience is the only teacher.” [15:12] - We go back to the power of anticipation, and why it’s so important. [17:26] - Anticipation, Alex points out, is the antidote to uncertainty and makes you a stronger ethical influencer. [19:22] - If you chase wealth first, and getting rich second, you’ll be a lot more confident in yourself. [19:44] - We hear a quick review of the insights from this episode. [20:32] - Please take a quick moment to give something back to Alex and the podcast! It’s simple, just go to this link and leave your biggest takeaway from this episode as a review. If you’ve already left a review, please write down your biggest takeaway on an index card and keep it somewhere safe! [22:31] - Alex offers listeners a gift in honor of this 24th episode of the podcast. You can get your own copy of his book Alexisms completely free! To learn how to get yours, tune in to the episode.   Links and Resources: Alex Mandossian MarketingOnline.com Skipio - where mass business texting gets personal! Alex Mandossian on YouTube Alexisms by Alex Mandossian All Selling Aside on iTunes Mahatma Gandhi