Influence vs. Authority

As a teacher, administrator, or student leader… ask yourself something:
 
“Do I want to have influence, or do I want to have authority?”
 
I’ve tackled this question from various viewpoints. I’m a certified teacher. A professional wrestler. And, a professional speaker. Interesting resume, eh?
 
With youth today… what’s more important… influence or authority?
 
As someone who has worked with youth in various forms over two decades, I can tell you that I’ve noticed a distinct shift in what students respond to nowadays.
 
Kids respond overwhelmingly greater to influence rather than authority.
 
I see it when I speak at schools. I’ll call upon an “expert,” or an “authority” on a particular subject and I see the eyes gloss over in the audience.
 
But, when I speak from my experience, and tell a story of someone who influenced me, or how I was able to positively influence someone else, I feel the opposite happen. Eyes are focused on me. Students lean forward. They’re invested and interested.
 
The question then becomes… why?

I don’t think it’s an easy answer. It’s not as simple as kids being more interested in Instagram influencers than any authoritative study found in a textbook. That’s not it.
 
We live in a world where the old adage “Knowledge is power” is no longer true. We ALL have knowledge at our fingertips. We all own a device that we can ask any question and it will spit out the answer within milliseconds. We have access to the authority figures on any subject instantly. But, what we don’t have access to instantly is INFLUENCE. And, I’m not talking about access to influencers on TikTok. I’m talking about true influence.
 
Here’s an example. In my keynote, I often share a story of how I met a young wrestling fan named Ethan. When I met him, I learned he was born with a debilitating disease and he’d never walked a day in his life. My heart went out to him and his family and I wanted to help. Through various positive influences and a strong community that surrounded that young boy, together we raised over $120,000 for Ethan to get a surgery that allowed him to eventually walk on his own power. And, I was there to share Ethan’s very first public step with the world.
 
When I tell that story, there’s rarely a dry eye in the audience. I have students come up to me after my presentation to talk to me. They don’t talk about some cool Instagram reel that I posted that got hundreds of thousands of views of me in a wrestling ring somewhere. They talk to me about Ethan. And they’re inspired.
 
We might not all have an “Ethan story.” A powerful and influential story that will make a room full of people cry. But, we all have a story. And we all have stories to share. Personal ones that will influence students sitting in your classroom. Stories that will potentially change the life of your students… if you have the courage to tell them.
 
As educators, we’re more than just information vessels. The time when a teacher was simply the giver of information is over. We need to be able to offer something more. We can offer true influence to our students through our stories and sharing of ourselves.
 
I encourage you… you have the power to be a positive influence in your classroom.
 
You’re still the authority figure in your classroom. But, you’re so much more than that. You’re the positive influencer that changes the lives of your students each and everyday by simply being yourself. And sharing that with your students.
 
So… “Do you want to have influence, or do you want to have authority?”
 
Shoot for the influence. Trust me. It’s so much more rewarding.

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