On Being an Influencer

Dear friend who wants to be an influencer: Strive for something higher. But if you must strive for influence, please consider the following:

We all have a brand. You do. I do. Even people who don’t want a brand have one. A brand is simply what we communicate to the world about who we are and what we stand for. As long as it is what we stand for communicated to the measure of how firmly we stand for it, there is nothing wrong with wanting to be seen as this or that. However, it is vitally important we are honest with ourselves about what we want to be known for and why…especially why.

For instance, it is one thing to want to be a scholar because you want to make a positive contribution to your field. It is another to want to be a scholar so you will be known as a scholar. The former comes from a posture of service. The latter is driven by vanity. Beyond this spiritual struggle lies another: The quest to be an influencer without doing anything worthy of garnering influence.

A well-known business site recently published an article targeted at young professionals on how to be perceived as an expert. It was a simple instruction guide on how to, “fake it ‘til you make it.” I couldn’t believe what I was reading. It’s one thing to want to come across a particular way. It is another to seek the shortcut to influencer by faking knowing what you’re talking about until people believe you do. That is a sham. It is mere cosplay. It is fraudulent, and an exhausting way to live.

If you want to be known for something, let me suggest the following:

Don’t. That road is paved with vice. Let me suggest, instead:

Do something noteworthy on its own merits. Meaning, it would be significant if no one ever notices. Do the work delighting in the fact that no one knows what you’re doing. Learn to do your work with the excellence of a professional, but with the love of an amateur. Then, do it again. And again. In my observation, it is difficult to do genuinely magnificent work if you are simultaneously wanting people to notice it. Your aim is applause, not excellence, God’s glory, or joy in the craft. Work for applause is a joy-free endeavor.

You may ask, “What if no one ever notices?” They will. If they don’t, your work was still significant in God’s sight—and you’ll know you’ve created something meaningful. If they do, you are likely to earn not just temporary notoriety, but lasting respect. Fame is fleeting. Respect is earned and has staying power. It is much better to spend your life significantly and not be noticed than to be noticed and live an insignificant life.

Netflix’s docudrama, Inventing Anna, is a master class in what I’m speaking of. In the show, Anna (played by Julia Garner) works tirelessly to be known among the elites without doing anything particularly worthwhile. She eventually cons some of the smartest and wealthiest people in New York City out of millions of dollars because they want to be known for knowing her. She in turn becomes known because she knows them. In the end, Anna ends up in prison and others end up humiliated in a variety of ways as Anna’s social Ponzi scheme crashes down. The series preaches loudly about the perils of such vanity.

God put within us a desire to want to do something meaningful with His gift of life. Wanting our lives to matter is fine if we realize our lives have intrinsic worth as God’s creation, and we are more than their accomplishments. But, when we want more, the Evil One can pervert our desire to honor God with our lives into a desire to be popular, powerful, famous, an “influencer,” or some other counterfeit pursuit.

True admiration comes from doing hard things or investing your life in a way that contributes to the world—repeatedly. There is no shortcut to significance other than living a life of significance. Faking it until we make it is faster. It’s also more plastic and fleeting. It’s also possible to fake it and never make it. I might go as far as to say if you fake it you shouldn’t make it.

If you have the itch to do something significant, bring it under the Lordship of Jesus, the powerful servant. That will keep your quest in perspective, and lead you toward true influence rather than fleeting fame. There is a difference between being famous and being significant. One moves in and out. Significance stays.

There is a difference between the beauty of the first dance of a newlywed couple and that of a couple during their 50th wedding anniversary celebration. In one we rejoice at the new union and hope for their future. In the other, we smile out of respect and the sheer beauty of faithfulness.

Life is like that. If you want to have real influence, offer your life to God as a living sacrifice in your vocation, and do it faithfully for years. There is no need to fake it until you make it. You won’t be it yet. But you will be on your way to becoming it—provided you’ve chosen a noble, “it.” You’ll also do it for God’s glory, not the fleeting applause of the crowd.

Then…when we’ve done all the living we are going to do, we’ll hear God’s, “Well done!” That will be all the applause we need.