Some people seem like they were born to excel. They're gifted physically, intellectually or artistically, and it appears as if they just float to the top.

有些人似乎天生就很出色。他们在身体方面、智力上或是艺术方面天赋异禀，好像不费吹灰之力就可以拔得头筹。

But don't be fooled. However gifted someone may be, he or she still had to develop those talents to achieve a lofty professional position. And that's good news for the rest of us. Each one of us has our own skills and talents, and we too can develop them and propel ourselves into positions of influence.

不要再骗自己了。不管多么天资聪颖，一个人总要有某些实实在在的技能，才可以有高人一等的职业地位。这对我们来说可是好消息。我们每个人都有自己的技能和才华，我们也可以通过对它们的提升，让自己变得更有影响力。

Here are seven ways to enhance those talents:

以下是提高这些技能的7种方法：

1. Develop your critical decision-making skills

发展批判性的决策能力

Decision-making is a top leadership competency because it pops up everywhere, from the simple choice of where to hold a staff meeting to the strategic options of where to spend marketing dollars. These decisions impact the people in the next cubicle, but they may also affect a subsidiary halfway across the globe or an entire country.

我们在许多方面都需要做出决策：小到开会地点，大到销售费用的战略性分配，因此对领导者来说，最重要的就是决策能力。这些决定或许只是影响到你隔壁的人，又或许它会影响地球另一边的公司，甚至整个国家。

Decisiveness is not a trait we're born with -- it's a skill that can be learned. To master it, analyze your process of critical decision-making to spot weak links in your reasoning and to recognize unconscious biases for or against something or someone. While we can't control outcomes, we can shape the process that sets them in motion.

我们并非生来就能果断决策，但我们可以学着这样做。去分析你进行批判性决策的过程，看到你推理中的薄弱环节，并且认识到你潜意识里对某物或某人的偏见，这样你就会渐渐知道该怎么做。虽然结果并不在我们的掌控之中，但我们可以操作过程从而影响结果。

2. Learn to make a solid argument

学会有力地辩论

You may never address the United Nations Security Council or testify before Congress, but everyone should be able to put together a coherent argument. That skill is critically and frequently useful -- in high-stakes conversations, in presentations, in question-and-answer sessions and in other discussions with decision-makers or anyone else who represents a certain viewpoint or asks you to explain yours.

或许你从来没有在联合国安理会上发过言，也没有在国会里做过证，但是每个人都应该学会流畅清晰地表达。这种能力很重要。在进行高风险的对话的时候，在自我展示的时候，在问答环节，在与其他决策者讨论的时候，还有在与观点不同者解释你的观点的时候……诸多场合你都有可能用到它。

To argue means to give reasons. It means defending and promoting your choices against the contrary arguments of equally adept influencers. Take what you've learned in school and build on that base with private instruction and directed reading on the relevant subject. You'll find that your ability to think critically and analyze others' arguments will dramatically increase your influence on their choices.

辩论意味着给出理由。辩论时，面对与你观点对立、难分高下的对手，你要攻守兼备。在运用学校知识的基础之上，形成自己的思路，直接引用相关的论点。这样的话，你会发现这种批判性思考和分析他人论点的能力在很大程度上会增强你的影响力。

3. Become a storyteller

善于讲故事

Storytelling has been a premier tool in influencing people across cultures and eras. Influencers tell stories for strategic purposes. From motivating people to act, to teaching, to reducing resistance and changing minds, a well-told narrative is a formidable force, often far more powerful than the mere recitation of complex financial or technical facts.

要想影响那些不同文化或不同时代的人，讲故事是首要的办法。为了达到战略目的，有影响力的人常常会讲故事。一段精彩的故事叙述可以激励人们行动，传授人们知识，消解敌人的抵抗，改变他人的心意——它往往具有不可战胜的力量，比单调复杂的金融和技术详述强大得多。

Numbers and figures are important, but when it comes to showing their relationship to any issue, large or small, a strategic narrative wrapped around the digits will deliver the message better and more memorably than anything else.

数字和图表确实重要，但是要想展现它们与或大或小的问题的联系的时候，来一段巧妙的故事叙述无疑会让信息传递事半功倍。

After you master the data, ask yourself: Is there a way to put a human face on my message? Are there real-life examples that will help me make my point in a way others can relate to?

在你熟悉这些数据之后，试着问问自己：如何才使这些信息更为人性化？有没有现实例子可以让我的观点与之联系起来的？

4. Hone your speaking skills

培养说话的艺术

When many of us think of influential people, we often think of those who were great speakers, such as John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Steve Jobs, as well as contemporaries such as Michelle Obama and Sheryl Sandberg. While many influencers operate effectively behind the scenes, those with the ability, the drive and the courage to speak persuasively have an additional source of powerful leverage.

每当谈及有影响力的人，我们常常想到那些演说家，像约翰•F•肯尼迪（John F. Kennedy），罗纳德•里根（Ronald Reagan）和史蒂芬•乔布斯（Steve Jobs），还有当代的米歇尔•奥巴马（Michelle Obama）和雪莉•桑德伯格（Sheryl Sandberg）。诚然，很多有影响力的人在幕后都很精干，但是那些有能力、有激情、有勇气去演讲的人都拥有一种额外的影响力。

Like decision-making skills, speaking skills are in high demand. Every day in myriad organizations, corporations and schools, vast numbers of presenters strive to capture the imaginations of workers and executives and students in order to drive an agenda forward. Yet many people fear speaking in public, giving in to a panic that closes a heavy door on a fast track to success and influence.

跟决策能力一样，有影响力的人也需要说话的艺术。每天，在无数个组织、公司和学校里，为了将一个工作提上日程，都有无数的发言者千方百计想要用言语征服工人、高管和学生们。然而，很多人不敢在公众面前说话。殊不知，这样的胆怯就是阻截了通向成功和强大影响力的捷径。

Do not shy away from speaking opportunities. Hone your message and delivery skill by repeatedly putting yourself in front of an audience, gather feedback, make adjustments, rinse and repeat. Summon the courage to speak and accept discomfort as a natural part of learning and growing. Start in smaller settings first, and then build up from there. There's no limit to where your influence can grow with this skill.

有发言机会的时候，尽管站出来吧。不断地将自己置身于公众面前，观察他们的反应并据此作出调整，反复打磨自己，这样才能锻炼你的口才。勇敢地开口，那些紧张不安的感觉只是你学习成长中的必经之路。千里之行，始于足下。尽管说出你的想法，你的潜能将无可限量。

5. Have a basic understanding of current events

对时事有所了解

You can't have an intelligent conversation with your peers and clients if you're stumped when faced with everyday topics such as the election, taxes, budget deficits, interest rates, markets, unemployment and the meaning of all these things to the average citizen. You don't need to be an expert on these topics, but you do need a basic understanding of them.

试想你跟同僚或者客户谈到时事，例如选举、税收、财政赤字、银行利率、市场、失业等等平民话题，这时候你却支支吾吾、面色尴尬，那你们还怎么高兴的交谈？对于这些信息，你不用有什么深刻见地，但如果一无所知，那就不应该了。

Influence is about shaping opinion, and embarrassing holes in everyday knowledge -- the kind that force you to awkwardly steer conversations into friendlier waters -- can significantly dampen your 360-degree influencing efforts. To fill these gaps, set aside a particular time each day to learn what's in the news. Make it a daily habit. It will require no more than 20 minutes.

所谓影响力就是形成你自己的观点。如果你在某些常识上有漏洞，或者当与别人谈到某件事，你被迫尴尬地主动转移话题，那在别人眼里，你的影响力可就大打折扣了。为了弥补这些不足，你应该养成良好的习惯，学着每天挤出一点时间来关注一下时事——不用很长，20分钟足矣。

Test your knowledge and wit by engaging friends and colleagues in the salient topics of the day and see how far you get and whether you're able to make a well-informed point that you can back up. It's a low-risk strategy that allows you to gather feedback in real time with the opportunity to fill gaps just as quickly, with hundreds of news sources just a few clicks away on your smartphone.

你可以通过跟同事朋友聊些日常话题来检验自己了解的多少，以及自己能否提出深刻的观点并说得有理有据。这种方式很安全，你可以在现实中得到反馈，你有机会用智能手机搜集到几百条新闻，以尽快弥补自己的知识缺陷。

Build your knowledge incrementally and notice how others will start coming to you for information, which is, after all, a major source of influence.

逐步增加你的知识储备，然后别人自然而然会靠近你以获取信息，这就是影响力的主要来源。

6. Think like a leader

像领导者一样思考

Influence is most obvious when it happens at the front of the pack. While influence can arise from any position, it is also from a position of leadership that it can make the most impact.

当一个人成为领军人物，他的影响力是最明显的。不过任何职位的人都可以产生影响力，而对领导者来说，他的力量影响的范围最大。

The most successful companies develop their high-potential leaders from within. If you're lucky enough to work for a leadership-development powerhouse such as GE, IBM or P&G, you've got it made, because everyone else is going to woo you to come on board with them and practice what you've learned.

最成功的公司往往从内部筛选及培养高潜能的领导者。如果你有幸在一个领导者的摇篮工作，比如美国通用电气公司（GE）、美国国际商用机器公司（IBM）或者宝洁公司（P&G），那你就胜利在望了。因为那里的每个人都希望与你成为合作伙伴，你会有很多锻炼自我的机会。

If you don't work for one of those great firms, if your company simply doesn't have the resources or if you're just out of school, volunteer to head up something such as a community project, a fundraiser or anything where you can test your mettle for making difficult decisions, setting strategy and motivating people toward a goal while keeping an eye on available resources.

如果你没能在这些大公司工作，或者你的公司并没有这些资源，又或者你的学历不够，那就自愿地去领导一件事情，比如一个社区项目或者一个资金筹集活动——只要这件事情可以让你知道在有限的资源前提下，自己在决策难题、运用谋略和调动他人积极性方面究竟有多大能耐，那都是可以的。

Volunteering is an excellent start for leadership training, as is mentoring others and helping them achieve their goals. The number-one leadership rule to keep in mind: help others become successful! Your altruistic efforts are sure to influence decision-makers around you to pencil you in for a bigger job when the opportunity comes along.

参与志愿活动是锻炼领导能力的良好开端，因为这是一个指导、帮助别人达到目标的过程。要记住这个首要的领导法则：让别人变得更成功！无私地帮助别人吧，等到时机成熟，决策者一定会升你的职。

7. Understand communication technology

了解信息技术

It's the 21st century, and even 5 year olds know about Twitter, Facebook and the latest multimedia platforms. Social media have secured a big foothold and they're here to stay. If you don't have an ongoing online dialogue with your customers or if you need a 19 year old to show you the ropes every time you log on to your website's forum, you're behind.

现在是21世纪，即使是5岁小孩子也听过推特、脸书等等新潮的多媒体。社交媒体已经站稳了脚跟，并且将会继续发展。如果你现在还没有与客户进行网上对话，或者你还需要一个19岁的青年来教你如何点开论坛的注册链接，那你就落伍啦。

Business is online, and customers and recruiters are looking for you to be present. Google yourself right now, and if the search produces 25 other people with your name -- but not you -- it's time to dive in headfirst. For the majority of people with whom you'll come in contact, your reputation and perceived influence start with what they can find about you on the Internet.

如今的商业都在网上进行。客户和聘用方都希望能在网上联系到你。试着搜索一下自己名字。如果搜索结果显示有25个人与你同名，但其中没有你，那你可得卯足劲努力了。因为对你的大多数同伴来说，他们对你的名声和个人影响力第一判断来自于网上搜索的结果。

Each individual, even those gifted people who seem to float easily to corporate heights, need to work on the skills that enable and enhance influence. If you develop these competencies, you will watch your influence soar.

那些有天赋的人似乎轻而易举就可以成功。但是包括他们在内的所有人都要努力学习这些技能，这样才可以提高个人影响力。如果你具备了这些技能，那你的影响力会迅速飙升了。