The Influence Effect: A New Path to Power for Women Leaders

Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath, Mary Davis Holt, and Diana Faison

Foreword by Cathy Bessant, Chief Operations and Technology Officer, Bank of America

It’s pure myth that women need to be more aggressive to succeed. Since the time when Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In was first published in 2013, one thing has become strikingly clear: leaning in simply isn’t enough to turn the tide. To the contrary, studies show that imitating male behavior doesn’t translate to professional advancement for women. The distinctive missing link is influence.

In every industry, from private equity investing to network television, women are underrepresented at the top and underpaid across the board and throughout their careers. The gap in the literature about what puts women ahead is influence—the capacity to have an impact on agendas and outcomes. Influence is more important to the women we work with than power itself.

The Influence Effect focuses on building influence that will enable women to gain traction in their careers and to achieve the advancement they deserve. The tools in this book are geared to help women rise above the politics of business and succeed on their own terms by achieving greater influence. Women have goals they want to achieve and ideas they can champion through change, and influence is the currency they need to make that happen.