The Real Influencers
Be appreciative of those who have shaped you
By Jim LaJoie
Among those much younger than I, there is a large group of social media “influencers” who they follow and admire.
An “influencer” to this younger crowd is someone they wish to emulate, at least on some level. These influencers, though, are typically using social media channels to sell a product or service. They are essentially today’s friendly door-to-door salespeople, doing so digitally rather than physically, trying to motivate you through persuasion to make a purchasing decision. They may be selling the illusion of a better life, but they are salespeople, pure and simple.
I am generally agnostic when it comes to most generational differences, but I find the whole influencer thing annoying because it cheapens the word and the importance of the concept of an influential person in one’s life. There are, or were, influential people in everybody’s life. People who have shaped you to be the person you are today, hopefully positively, possibly negatively. Those are the individuals who can properly be referred to as “influencers.”
Obvious influencers, and the first in most people’s lives, are parents. Other familial influencers can range from siblings to grandparents to favorite aunts, uncles or cousins. All of us have been influenced by our family members.
Teachers are another source of influence to many. Most of us have memories of a favorite teacher, someone who likely took a particular interest in us and lit the flame of a lifelong pursuit of knowledge.
If you played sports, a coach was influential, ingraining in you the knowledge that hard work, discipline and commitment to a goal can result in positive rewards.
A friend could have entered your life when you needed someone. A lifelong friend is likely someone who has had an enormous effect on your life. A truly good friend will be honest with you, even when that honesty is not always welcome. A good friend cares enough about you to share many good moments, and at times, some difficult ones. If you are lucky, you have at least one friend who inspires you to be more like them. They are someone you respect highly.
Professionally, you may have been fortunate enough to have had supervisors who invested time in furthering your career. They may have seen something in you that you hadn’t seen in yourself. They may have pushed you to extend yourself in ways you didn’t think you could. They inspired you to become better at your craft, more fully developing your skillset.
Someone who treated you badly can be a positive influence if you learn from that experience how not to act. A bad parent, for instance, doesn’t have to be emulated. A father or mother can be a lesson in who you don’t want to be.
Truly influential people in your life help make you a better person. They are not out to sell you a product or service, they are not out to enrich themselves at your expense. They are influential by being themselves, by caring for you, by sharing their life with you. They are the true influencers and the people you should be eternally grateful have played a role in who you are today.
About the author: Jim LaJoie is grateful for having a number of positive influencers in his life.