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Soft Power: Don't Overlook this Secret Strength · Unspoken Career Truths

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  Welcome to unspoken career truths.
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  I'm Cara Wood. And I'm Lauren Levac Gilbert.
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  And we're here to be the Co workers you can trust.
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  In just 10 minutes, we'll cover the strategies you need, the
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  mistakes to avoid, and the insider secrets no one tells you
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  so you can show up with confidence at work.
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  Hello everyone and welcome to today's Unspoken Career Truths.
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  On today's episode, we are going to be talking about soft power.
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  And funny enough, I heard this term on ATV show.
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  I was watching the Diplomat on Netflix, which just came out
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  with a new season. And the vice president was
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  talking to to the ambassador and she was saying that like her
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  hair was unkempt and like her outfit wasn't really saying
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  much. And just the way that she
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  presented herself didn't necessarily exude power.
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  And the vice president said all those things are examples of
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  soft power. And it really got me thinking
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  about other things that are soft power and what it means and how
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  you can really impact it. So Carl, what do you, what do
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  you think about that? Like what's your reaction when I
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  say soft power? It's funny that you bring up
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  both TV and international diplomacy, because for me, soft
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  power is all about things like Voice of America or
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  international aid. It's or or TV itself, right?
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  It's all the things that we export from our country or we
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  exude when we're individuals that other people like or aspire
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  to or it gives us like a steam or power in a way that is not
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  direct at all. But actually people can look at
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  the US and say, oh, that's like a country I want to be like, or
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  look at you at the office and say that's a person that I want
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  to listen to. Everything from having a candy
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  dish on your desk to being one of the largest producers of
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  blockbuster hit. I love that.
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  And I think the reason why I wanted to bring this up and at
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  the end of our season really is because I feel like the concept
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  of soft power is kind of a culmination of a lot of things
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  we've talked about. We've talked about influence,
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  we've talked about like your circle, we've talked about
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  value. We've talked about a lot of
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  things that are connected to soft power.
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  And if I were to define it, soft power at work is the ability to
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  influence and persuade colleagues and stakeholders
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  through personal attraction, credibility, and respect, rather
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  than through coercion or authority.
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  So like the opposite would be hard power, which is like very
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  hierarchical authority. But Carl, I know you have a
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  perspective on the difference between soft power and
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  influence, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.
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  I mean, I think the soft power is a kind of influence like in
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  everything that you're saying where we there are a lot of
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  things that you can do to make yourself attractive to sort of
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  like I've heard it used as you sort of Co opt instead of
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  coerce. And so people want to align with
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  your 'cause it's from everything from you setting a great vision
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  to you kind of again, being the person who gets things done.
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  Like what kind of reputation have you built at the office?
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  What other people are you working with that other people
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  want to be in? Sort of like you're in click,
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  all of those things, some of them strategic, some of them
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  personality driven that do exert influence, but they it's
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  influenced in one specific way and there's so many other ways
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  to build influence. An example I always think of for
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  this one is have you ever met someone that when they walk into
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  a room like, and they just have a presence and like they, they
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  have confidence and they have authority and like, they just
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  have a certain way about them? I look at that as an example of
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  soft power as well. Like how you carry yourself, how
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  you present yourself. It matters in a lot of those
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  respects. I honestly also think for me,
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  like some of the way soft power comes through is when someone
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  has been attached to a project or an initiative at work, or
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  they're the person who like honestly a receptionist, usually
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  carry a lot of soft power. I agree.
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  With that, admins carry a ton of soft power and it's their
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  proximity to some of the hard power.
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  It's also their like knowledge base.
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  It's also the fact that they are doing a lot for everyone else in
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  the office. And so they're building up that
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  like credibility and clout for other people.
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  Again, if we go back to the example of like when we give
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  foreign aid, we're building soft power as a country.
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  When you know the receptionist is solving your problems, when
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  IT is solving your problems, they're building soft power at
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  the office. I completely agree.
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  I love the point about admins. Like admins control so many
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  things for people and like I'm always so grateful and
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  appreciative of them And I think sometimes they are overlooked,
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  but they definitely have a lot of soft power.
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  And I think that the really like unspoken truth about the this is
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  that soft power is often undervalued because it's not
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  necessarily tangible. Like it's not on a spreadsheet,
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  like it's not very specific necessarily, but it's a force
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  behind a lot of real progress. And when you do it well, you can
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  attract additional power or additional influence.
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  So I wanted to get into a couple other examples of soft power
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  and, and car. I want to hear your thoughts
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  too. But yeah, I think emotional
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  intelligence is a really strong one, right?
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  Like if you show empathy and you understand like how people are
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  interacting or how people are feeling, strong communication
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  and charisma, those are really big.
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  How you present yourself, we already kind of talked about,
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  but even strategic relationships, so your network,
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  your community, that's something that I really value in my role.
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  And I feel like that is also a demonstration of soft power
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  because I have this like group of people around me that I can
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  tap into and I can elevate, and that gives me more influence as
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  well. Yeah, this is sort of a call to
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  volunteer for different things like you know, if you're if you
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  have employee resource groups or special interest groups that
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  you're already maybe aligned to, getting involved with them can
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  build out your network and make you associated with those
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  things. A lot of times I do think about
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  it as like soft power being either the strategic
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  relationships that you've built around you or the projects that
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  you've done that then have sort of a shine around them or a
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  reputation that other people want to then get involved.
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  Like if you're doing charity walks at your office or things
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  like that, that people are like, yeah, I want to actually, you
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  know, be involved with that. Are you the person that brings
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  in things? Are you the person that asks
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  other people to lunch and expands your lunch group?
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  All of that stuff just passes along good feelings and makes
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  people feel good to to be with you and to help you out.
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  I love that example, Cara, because I think it gets into
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  like, how do you build soft power?
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  I mean, I think one of the first things is really just to be
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  authentic, like be yourself, right?
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  Like don't try to pretend to be something else and like lean
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  into your strengths. Another one is, like you said,
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  getting involved collaboration. So working with people around
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  you, extending the hand to someone on a cross functional
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  team or someone you don't work with all the time is really
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  important. Demonstrating your expertise can
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  be soft power. You can be a subject matter
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  expert. I'm thinking of our acronym
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  episode is to an SNE. Like you can show that
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  expertise. You can present yourself with
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  confidence on specific topics. And I also think a big one here
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  is culture. How can you be a culture
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  ambassador for your organization?
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  The culture is built by the people in the company.
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  So if you're someone who can exude that culture and help kind
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  of build it, that is also a sense of of soft power.
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  And I don't know Carl, if you have any other examples.
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  This conversation is reminding me of something I heard Eric
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  Baker. He's he is someone who studied
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  unions and has a book out called Make Your Own Job.
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  And one of the things he talks about is like the power of
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  unions comparative to just the power of management.
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  And the big key thing that management can sort of never get
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  people to do is cover for people or do part of their like larger
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  part of their job outside of what their job is.
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  But if you think of your Co workers, the ones that you're
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  willing to like stay late, pick up their slack, like do a little
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  bit more for them. Like that always sort of
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  naturally happens in great workplaces where you're just
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  happy to like fill in for folks. And so I think that's another
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  example again, because you're the nice person, because you
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  just asked how someone's day was, because you're the person
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  that they're seeing all the time, you're there for them,
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  they're there for you, then that's how you build some of
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  that soft power. So sounds weird, but like
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  running errands, doing favors, like asking people about their
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  pets or kids or life outside of the office, Like all those
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  little relationships that you're building are building sort of
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  equity in someone else, sort of covering for you, helping you
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  outgoing above and beyond when you're both on the same project
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  or different projects, but they're kind of covering your
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  shift. And just be kind, right, Like be
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  a good person. I always come back to that.
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  Be a good person and be kind like it gets you so so far, so,
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  so to close out soft power is a still a skill.
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  Excuse me, That can apply to almost every aspect of your
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  life, and a lot of a lot of it has to do with showing up as
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  your authentic self. So try to practice
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  communication, be yourself, develop your confidence, and
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  figure out ways that you can exude soft power in your life.
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  And that's a wrap. Thanks for joining us on
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  Unspoken Career Truths. Don't forget to follow us on
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  share it with a friend.