Lisa Lawson, President and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, has built a career creating change. From her earlier years as a lawyer and lobbyist to now leading one of the nation’s largest philanthropies focused on children and young people, Lisa has seen how influence works across business, government, philanthropy, and local communities.
In this episode of Chief Influencer, Lisa joins host Anthony Shop to discuss why some of the most powerful influence is local, how leaders can identify the right messenger for the right audience, and what it takes to build an “infrastructure of influence” that lasts beyond any one person. They also explore the importance of pairing data with human stories, giving people a clear role in the change you want to create, and using your own influence to elevate others. Lisa shares lessons from her work with young people, the science behind her book Thrive, and decades of work at the Annie E. Casey Foundation to show what long-term influence can accomplish.
Takeaways:
- Some of the most powerful influence is local. Issues become more personal and less abstract when people can see how decisions affect the communities, schools, businesses, and people they know.
- The CEO isn’t always the right messenger. Effective influence means thinking carefully about the message, the messenger, and the timing, then equipping trusted voices with the information they need.
- Build an infrastructure of influence. Lasting change requires more than one influential person. It takes data, advocates, researchers, organizations, lived experts, and an ecosystem that can sustain the work over time.
- Pair data with stories. Data establishes the scope of an issue, but numbers alone rarely move people. Lisa says, “Data and a story is influence.”
- Give people something to do. Influence shouldn’t stop at helping someone understand a problem. Leaders need to be specific about the change they want to see and help people understand their role in making it happen.
- Listen before you build the solution. Lisa encourages leaders to engage lived experts early, compensate them for their expertise, prepare them to participate, and follow up so they know how their contributions made a difference.
- Be a gracious steward of your influence. A leader’s platform doesn’t have to be about self-promotion. Lisa sees it as an opportunity to give visibility and influence back to the people and organizations doing important work.
- Influence belongs to all of us. Lisa believes social media and declining trust in institutions have shifted influence beyond a small group of traditional power brokers, giving everyday people more ability to create change.
Quote of the Show:
- “You need to be able to go from a simmer to a boil….So you can't just decide today, ‘Oh, I wanna influence X.’ You gotta be evergreen in building that infrastructure so that when the opportunity happens, you can boil and you can seize a moment where public will or political will might be in your favor.”
Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawsonlisamaria/
- Website: https://www.aecf.org/
- “Thrive” Book Link: https://a.co/d/0ePCa4uS
Shout Outs:
- Thrive by 25
- KIDS COUNT Network
- Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
- UPS Foundation
- UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent
- Solutions Journalism Network
- Soul Family Framework