I lead a group of college students through a leadership development experience each year and one thing we talk about again and again is the power of influence. You see, I believe that everyone is a leader. EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON on this planet is leading others in some way or another. Each and every day we lead and each and every day there is influence.

Think about it. We have people in our lives that are up close and personal to us. They know us. Really, really know us and love us no matter what. They have access to the good, bad, and ugly and we are ok with that. Then there are people in our lives that are a little bit farther away. We may work together every day or are a part of a community together in some form or fashion, but we don’t tend to share everything with them. We are more selective in what we share and how we share life with them. We are living a degree of life together but there is a degree of distance too. I’m not telling you about what I’m really thinking now am I?

Finally, there are those people, and there are a lot of them, that are much farther away but we have access to them and are taking in their lives any time we can and in any way we can. This is such an interesting concept too. We think we know them, but we don’t know really know them at all. They are always around but you don’t know them. Think about some of the people you work with or within the same organization but don’t necessarily interact with. You know one another and you pay attention to one another, but you don’t speak to one another much and neither of you have any sort of voice over each other’s lives. But there they are. You are watching them live their life from afar, as up close as you have access to, and then probably on social media as well. These can be distant co-workers. These can be families that you are in school together. You are in such and such together, but you don’t know one another. And then think about all the people’s lives you absorb every day on social media. Let’s be honest. There are many of those people that we follow and pay attention to that we flat out don’t even know but our minds tell us we do. If they tell us to watch this, listen to that, or go there, we are on it! They are clearly influencing in some way, shape, form, or fashion.

People are all around us. Introvert or extrovert, there are people all around us. Mr. or Miss loud personality or quiet personality, they are all around us. Bottom of the totem pole or CEO there are people all around us and we are watching it all.

And because of this we all have influence and therefore we are all leaders.

Simply put, we are leading people in some way or another all day long. Leadership is sometimes a title and that’s great, but a lot of times it’s just living life in how you get your coffee and speak to the barista, drive around town and handle traffic, how you talk to or talk about your coworkers (ouch), sit in a meeting, conduct the meeting, talk in a meeting, or even as simple as how you respond to text messages and emails. People are impacted by you in everything you do. People’s actions and words have an impact on us, don’t they? I mean one minute your life was rockin’ and rollin’ and your favorite song was on, coffee in hand, sunshining, traffic cooperating, and the next thing you know you hear something, see something or interact with something, better yet, someone, and you aren’t enjoying the day so much anymore. You take that incident into the next place you are going, and things are immediately different than maybe they would have been all because someone chose to be rude, selfish, or just mean. YOU chose to be rude, selfish, or mean because of someone or something.

I think we should consider these daily things more often than we do and take it a bit more seriously. The Lord is gracious enough to give us each day and the people in it. This is a stewardship issue. Do you hold each day and all the interactions with all kinds of people carefully, thoughtfully, intentionally or do you hold it without much thought or care, blowing and going as you choose because it’s all about me?

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Ephesians 4:1

How are you influencing others? How are you leading others? Are you worth following?

Let’s ask that again. Are you thinking about what other people think or feel after an interaction with you? Are you self-aware enough to see that? Do you want to know this? Are you someone who is truly leading? Are you leading people down a path worth following? Are you leading people down a path that only causes annoyance and frustration? Are you thinking about the people who are up close that you have influence over? Are you thinking about the people farther away that you have influence over?

Influence = leadership

I want you, me, all of us to be people worth following.

Press on my friends! Let’s lead and follow wisely. I have do doubt this crew is learning this.