As engineers, we like to think we build systems with code. We don’t. We build them on influence. Influence is what makes your ideas land, your projects ship, and your team trust you enough to follow. It’s not just persuasion, it’s presence, memory, and consistency.

Picture concentric circles with you at the centre. Early in your career, your circle is tiny: your code, your tasks. As you grow, the circles expand, team, cross-team, company, maybe even industry. As a manager, your circle stops being neat and circular at all; it becomes amorphous, reshaping to bridge gaps, channel context, and remind people what the hell we’re all doing.

This section helps you see and track your blast radius, build high-trust relationships, and notice who’s slowly drifting out of your orbit.

Relationship Map & Influence Tracker

Who’s in your orbit, and how to keep them there.

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Closing Thought

Influence is not a one-off achievement. It’s gardening. If you don’t tend to it, weeds grow: mistrust, drift, misunderstanding. Build it slowly, maintain it deliberately, and spend it wisely. A well-timed thank-you can have more impact than a perfectly-argued deck.

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