The Power of Authority: How Appearances Create Status

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What if all it took to be seen as an expert was a suit and a sales table?

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Well, that's exactly what happened

to me working at a personal

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development event quite a while back.

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Now in this episode, we are gonna

be exploring the principle of

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authority, and how that principle

can make or break your credibility

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as a speaker, how we can utilize it,

leverage it effectively and ethically.

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And what to avoid doing we'll take a

look at how authority is also sometimes

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used unethically Welcome to Present

Influence the show for professional

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speakers and communicators who want

to impact, influence, and inspire.

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My name's John Ball, and I'm your

guide on this journey to mastery

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level communication skills.

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Authority is one of Dr.

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Robert Cialdini's seven principles

of influence, and it's the tendency

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that we all have to follow the

lead of people who appear to be

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experts, leaders, or people in power.

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Now, Cialdini will often use the

example of people wearing white coats,

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and I think that's a fair one to use.

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you'll tend to see them in medical

environments and when we see somebody

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in a white coat, we automatically

start making assumptions that they

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are probably medical personnel.

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They probably know what we're doing.

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So it gives us a level of confidence

that we can trust them and that

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they are who they say they are, and

they're where they're supposed to be.

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Now, we may see those white coats

in other environments as well.

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So, for example, we might see

them at the nail technicians.

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We might see them at the opticians.

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We might see them at the

beauticians and other places too.

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And there's a reason for that.

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It's not necessarily that these

people are medically trained and need

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to have the white coats on at all.

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It's more a case of the confidence and

trust, the assumptions that come along

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with the white coat in those environments.

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The sign of cleanliness, the sign

of assumed technical ability and

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knowledge that comes with that, the

assumptions that we make about them.

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So we're more likely to do what

someone in a white coat says to do

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than if they weren't wearing that.

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And this was proven in experiments that

Cialdini talks about in his book where.

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these were essentially set up

with actors, some in white coats,

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and some of them playing the

part of subjects in these tests.

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And unsuspecting people were brought in to

follow instructions from the people in the

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white coats as part of the experiments.

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they believed that they were administering

electric shocks to the subjects who had

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agreed to have this the subjects were

only pretending to be electrocuted.

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That is really important to know here.

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However, One of the things that this

experiment showed was that a significant

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percentage of the people who were

administering or thought they were

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administering electric shocks, were

willing under the instruction of the

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person in the white coat who they thought

was a doctor or professor, to keep turning

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up the electrical shocks, some of them to

what would, if they were real, would've

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been lethal levels of electric shock.

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Now, not everyone agreed to this, but

certainly a significant percentage,

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and that is the power of authority.

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we may be looking at it in a little

bit of a different context here.

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However, Cialdini said this, titles,

clothes and trappings are all symbols

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of authority and they can trigger

our compliance without genuine merit.

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So picture this with me.

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I was, standing at a sales table at the

back of a personal development event

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wearing a suit and promoting something

that was called a billionaires club.

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Really what it was, was, A mastermind

group where people could come and

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It was a significant investment

for people to join this.

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And they would go somewhere exotic

as a group and they would have

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special guest speakers come in, they

would mastermind their projects.

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They would do some kind of community

outreach whilst they were there.

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And really it was some stepping into

the mindsets and the actions of being

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millionaires, multi-billionaires,

billionaires, and so on.

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So I'm standing at the table to

promote this event and sign people up.

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'cause I was essentially there

to work on sales and some of the

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people who were attending the

event made assumptions about me.

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I'm assuming that they didn't recognize

that my suit was from Marks and Spencer's

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and that my tie was borrowed from my Dad.

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But what they thought was, because

I was in the suit and tie looking

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smart at an event where most people,

were in jeans and t-shirts, And, the

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signs, says stuff about millionaires.

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I can't even remember if it's

millionaires or billionaires now.

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I think it might have been billionaires.

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They assumed that I was a millionaire

or a multimillionaire because of that.

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based purely on my appearance

and my positioning at that event.

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there was no intention to create a

false idea of me being a millionaire or

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multimillionaire or anything like that.

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it was an idea that people got, and I

certainly did not try and leverage that.

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I just found it amusing, as I was

very far from being any kind of

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millionaire or multimillionaire.

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so I think it's a good idea to reflect

on perceptions that are created and

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at the very least have a little bit

of healthy skepticism in our lives.

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If only to consider the assumptions that

we're making and to remind ourselves

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those assumptions might not be true,

the more opportunities in life where

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we can add a little bit of conscious

awareness and thought into things.

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The more healthy, our brains are

gonna be and the less likely we are

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to fall for those times where people

might be using authority principles

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to pull the wool over our eyes and

to give us a sense of them being, of

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them being something that they're not.

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So consider the assumptions of authority

and that they may sometimes be false.

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Now one great example of this I've seen

in a bunch of YouTube videos was people

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selling these tours in particular places

in tourist destinations around the world.

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And often they were selling fake tickets

or, weren't genuine resellers, but

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they would have things that made them

look like they were maybe A Blazer, A

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gille or something that would have some

branding on it, an umbrella that has

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the right coloring and branding on it.

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But they weren't actually

legitimate sellers, and so they were

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scamming people for their tickets.

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And so again, the assumptions were made.

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they looked the part, they have their gear

on, why else would they be wearing that?

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And yet they were ripping people off.

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So I think healthy skepticism

is often a good idea.

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Now there are a number of ways that

speakers can project authority,

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and so we're gonna look at three

key ones here let's explore the

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aspects and speaker expressions.

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the first one really would be around

appearance, which includes things

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like your dress, your posture, your

vocal tone, your physical presence.

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The next would be association who you

share the stage with, event status,

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testimonials, those kinds of things.

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And the third would be expertise.

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So that could be something like,

sharing, demonstrated results,

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sharing credentials, case studies.

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If you were to include all these

elements in some way, shape or form into

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your talks and presentations, they're

likely to give you a credibility boost.

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So looking the part standing like you

are speaking, like you are having a

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presence that says you are, everything

you say you are is gonna be good.

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We want to make sure we're doing that.

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who we are on stage with, like who we

associate with because there's so many

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reasons why that's important, but.

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When it comes to authority, if we are

sharing stages with people who are less

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than ethical operators or who are really

just in it to grind every dollar, euro,

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pound out of their audience that they can.

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We are gonna be guilty by association.

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However, we are sharing the stage with

people who are pros, experts, really great

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at motivating and energizing the crowd.

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We are also gonna be guilty in a good

way by association I do think we're

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in a point in life and in business

where expertise is probably much

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less important than it ever has been.

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However, we still do respect and recognize

expertise when it shows in front of us.

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if you are a speaker who also does

coaching or consulting, sharing some of

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your results that you've had with clients

or people you've worked with, sharing some

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of your credentials credentials sometimes

can be your experience that has led you

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to the knowledge that you have right now.

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It's not always qualifications could be

case studies not necessarily even your

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own case studies, but things that back up,

what you're talking about, it's all still

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gonna give additional credibility and

authority to who you are and what you do.

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There is a degree to which anyone

who steps up onto a stage in front

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of an audience or anyone who being

presented as a guest speaker,

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has been invited to come and

talk or present is automatically

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by those associations being

assumed to be an authority, to

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be an expert in what they do.

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So you are crossing what we could

call the authority or expert threshold

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when you are up in front of a group.

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So unless you do things that

undermine that you will probably

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be considered or thought of and

people will make those associations

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that You are who you say you are.

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but if you are on a stage talking

about high level business concepts

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and you're in Bermuda shores and a

Hawaiian shirt and flip flops, it's

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gonna undermine your authority.

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So we must think there has to

be congruence in what we say,

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how we look, and how we present

ourselves on the platform.

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now we said there was a dark

side to authority as well.

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And as with any of Cialdini's principles,

the tools of influence or weapons of

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influence, as some people will call

them, Can be used to build or to destroy.

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They can be used for good

or they can be used for bad.

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in and of themselves.

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The tools are amoral.

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They have no morality of their own,

which means the morality of them

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depends on the person using them

and what they're using them for.

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So we may encounter things like speakers

who claim false credentials they may

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have, They might be talking about

a degree or doctorate that they've

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awarded themselves or was honorary and

doesn't really make them the experienced

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expert that they're talking about.

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they may well overstate their success

and they may even fake testimonials.

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We have probably all come across

and happy to say, I think it

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seems to be less common now.

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But the people who are trying to

project a level of authority and status,

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we can pretty much sub out the word

authority for status in many cases,

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of the people who would be filming

sales videos with Lamborghinis that

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when it was investigated, turned

out to be rented or hiring out a

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mansion so that they look like they're

multimillionaires, hiring models to

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hang around them, so they look like

they're surrounded by beautiful people.

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All these things were

commonplace 10, 15 years ago.

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Thankfully, not so much now, but all those

things have damaged over time, and chipped

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away at people's trust, which is why

we are now in a bit of a trust deficit,

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especially when it comes to expertise

and marketing ourselves as speakers and

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any products or services that we have.

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audiences Don't always question

things if it looks legit.

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And so often it's only when people get

out and word will spread like wildfire.

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If people get found out,

if trust has been broken.

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People will find out, and I've seen it

in the personal development industry,

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people who were trying to look the

part, people who actually got themselves

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into massive debt trying to project

this image of status and authority.

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So they show up somewhere

with a hired Ferrari or Lambo.

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Have 10,000 pounds spent on a suit

from a top London tailor or fashion

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designer that they couldn't really

afford, so that they could look the

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part and hopefully, I guess, try and

pull the wool over people's eyes.

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That is really where, one of the places

where authority can be pretty dark.

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I hope that you are a bit more

like me and that you wouldn't

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want to use authority unethically.

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let's talk about how to

use it the right way.

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I.

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So being an authority

isn't about pretending.

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It's about earning trust and

presenting it authentically.

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So there are ways that speakers

can build ethical authority.

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You can share real

credentials and results.

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use real storytelling to show and

not just tell about your expertise.

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Be vulnerable and transparent about

what you can and can't do as well.

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I think people often think there's

this need when you are on a platform,

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when you are in public view, that

you should be flawless and it's

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unachievable and it's also unrelatable.

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So we can actually get more authority

by being a little more vulnerable.

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And I've talked about

this in videos before.

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Just by maybe talking about something that

we can't do or something that we failed

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at and learned from that lets people in

and say, all right, they're not perfect.

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They're actually you like

me, I'm not perfect either.

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And, so when we're not trying

to be perfect, we become

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automatically more relatable.

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So as long as the things we share

aren't undermining our general

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credibility, So, authority

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is really a way of allowing other

people to do some of the heavy lifting

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when it comes to your credibility.

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Cialdini said this, true authority

is earned through expertise and

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trustworthiness, not just appearance.

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So if this has helped you to rethink

how you show up as a speaker, or

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how others might be influencing

you or how you might be influencing

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others, leave a comment below.

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And of course if you haven't already,

like and subscribe, hit that notification

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bell 'cause certainly there's more

in this series to come as well as

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guest interviews and more videos

and would love to see you subscribe.

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I've just hit 300 subscribers, which

has been something like 50 people in

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the last month or so to take it up

from where it had been stuck for years.

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I'm looking to, get to 400 now and

I'd love you to help me do that.

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Now, if you want to find out what your

speaking strengths are, you can take my

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speaker Strengths Finder assessment and

you can find that@presentinfluence.com.

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Next time we're going to be exploring

social proof and how other people's

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opinions affect credibility and how

speakers can leverage social proof from

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the platform and make sure things are set

up to make you look as good as possible.

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Again, not perfect, just great.

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Wherever you're going, wherever you're

doing, have an amazing rest of your day.