“Dare To Be Different” Influence Tools

The “Dare To Be Different” influence tools are all about what you can do to stand out from the crowd, what you should do to ensure that you do not make the mistakes that many people make and instead take the less trodden path of success (read more about Student to CEO Influence Tools here).

Key themes include:

• Be different: learn from other people's mistakes, don't keep doing the same thing if it isn't working for anyone else, take a different approach and keep adapting until you find one that works (and the order in which you do things makes as big a difference to your success as the things that you do);
• Focus on relationships: build and maintain great relationships, develop a powerful support network but avoid stepping on other people's toes if they have helped you out;
• Think big: don't be a cog in the machine, design and run the machine! Utilise the people around you in constructive and mutually beneficial ways to get more done than you can on your own;
• Build your personal brand: your reputation is one of your most valuable assets. It is what people think of you and directly affects every interaction you have with everyone in your life. Make sure that accountability and reliability are part of your reputation, then nurture and protect it at all costs;
• Focus on results: quantifiable, tangible results are far more important and impressive than academic grades. What have you actually done? Can your successes be converted into financial value? Make sure that you document your successes throughout your career – both as evidence to use when opening opportunities and for your own personal development and reflection.