I was talking to someone today about soft power, and an hour of me giving advice and workshopping things came down to:
- Build trust by working in the open and asking people for feedback. Praise them for their contributions, often.
- Talk to people and ask their preferred work style, and respect it.
- You build trust by delivering on what you say you will – repeatedly.
- And finally, do everything with kindness.
That’s it. That’s how you build influence and get things done without having hard power.