The Power of Personal Influence: Five Short Lessons

The Power of Personal Influence: Five Short Lessons
By Karen Bergh
I can still remember the sting of embarrassment when the only female partner at the Big Six accounting firm I worked for made fun of me in front of my peers, everyone was laughing as I shrunk away from the executive meeting nearly in tears. That was almost 10 years ago, and there are now only the “Final Four” global accounting firms. At the time I felt powerless, but the lesson I learned during my recovery from that moment signaled the beginning of a new era of personal strength for me. I learned lesson number one in the power of personal influence: Earn respect by displaying your confidence, and standing your ground.
Here’s how I learned that lesson.
I was the “token marketer” in a sea of technical accounting types and was presenting my spreadsheet for an event I was managing for the firm. The partner had been poking fun at how a marketing person couldn’t possibly generate a budget worthy of th...