How do you convince an entire community to believe in a vision that once seemed impossible? Kay Barnes, the first woman elected mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, knows what it takes. During her two terms in office, she helped lead a major transformation of downtown Kansas City, bringing together civic leaders, businesses, and residents around an ambitious vision for the city's future. But her approach to influence began long before she entered the mayor's office, rooted in relationships, listening, and a genuine interest in people. In this special live episode of Chief Influencer, Anthony Shop sits down with his former boss and longtime mentor at the National World War I Museum to explore the leadership lessons that have shaped her remarkable career. From the influence of her cousin Walter Cronkite to the challenges of winning over skeptics, Kay shares why bold visions can be easier to sell than modest ones, how trust is built through everyday interactions, and why effective leaders must know when to listen, adapt, and stand firm. Their conversation offers a reminder that lasting influence isn't built through titles or authority alone. It begins with how we treat people, grows through the relationships we nurture, and makes meaningful change possible when we give others something worth believing in. Takeaways: Build relationships before you need someone's support. Genuine connections create the trust necessary to influence important decisions later. Don't underestimate the power of a bold vision. An ambitious goal can inspire greater enthusiasm and commitment than a modest one. Listen before you lead. Understanding the perspectives of others helps build credibility and identify opportunities for collaboration. Recognize the different audiences you're trying to influence. Cynics, skeptics, apathetics, and true believers require different approaches to building support. Know what you don't know. Effective leaders recognize their limitations and surround themselves with people who bring complementary expertise. Make people feel included in the process. Providing information, answering questions, and engaging stakeholders early can prevent unnecessary conflict. Protect relationships even when people disagree. Avoid burning bridges that may become essential to future collaboration. Quote of the Show: "I do believe that a bold vision is easier to sell than a medium-sized one." Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kay4congress/ Shout Outs: National World War I Museum: https://www.theworldwar.org/  Matthew Naylor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattnaylor/

The rules of influence have changed, but many organizations are still playing by the old ones. In this special live briefing, Anthony Shop is joined by the authors and a key contributor behind Carnegie's new report, How to Engage with New Media: A Strategic Guide for Nonprofit Organizations. Rachel Kleinfeld and Renee DiResta, the report's co-authors, along with Carnegie Senior Fellow Sarah Labowitz, break down why traditional media strategies are no longer sufficient, why people trust individual creators more than institutional brands, and what organizations with limited budgets can actually do about it. From Sarah's unpaid partnership with storm chaser Edgar O'Neill to Renee's insights on why comments matter more than follower counts, this conversation offers a practical roadmap for any leader trying to build trust and reach new audiences in today's media landscape. Takeaways: Reach your audience through the media they actually consume, not the demographics you assume they fit into. Invest in relationships with creators before asking for transactions. The best partnerships are built on mutual respect and shared curiosity. Comments drive visibility and trust more than follower counts. Platforms like Threads and Instagram reward active community participation. Lead with curiosity, not authority. Content that invites the audience to discover conclusions on their own outperforms expert declarations. Think of your long-form research as the beginning of the content process, not the end. One report can fuel dozens of pieces across platforms. Start small: commit to posting once a week and holding a regular "hook meeting" to sharpen your opening lines. Quote of the Show: "Those of us who are prizing traditional media and still thinking of it as media and this other thing as new are actually almost reversed in our thinking." — Rachel Kleinfeld Links: Renee DiRestaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reneediresta/  Sarah LabowitzLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahlabowitz/  Rachel Kleinfeldhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelkleinfeld/  Carnegie Website: https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2026/08/nonprofit-organizations-how-to-engage-social-media-new-media-strategy 

Influence is not built by posting more content for the sake of being visible. It comes from building relationships, telling stories people remember, joining meaningful conversations, and consistently showing up in ways that feel human. In this special live episode of Chief Influencer, host Anthony Shop brings together Rudy Soto of the National American Indian Housing Council, Bryan Myers of [solidcore], and Erica Pyatt of LinkedIn for a conversation about how leaders can use their personal influence to advance something bigger than themselves. They explore why relationships should be built long before you need them, how stories and data work together to move people to action, and why leaders should think of platforms like LinkedIn as places for conversation rather than simply another distribution channel. The panel also tackles the growing role of AI in personal branding, the fear that keeps leaders from putting themselves out there, and why consistency may matter more than getting every post exactly right. Takeaways: Relationships are everything. Build connections without knowing exactly where they will lead. The person you meet today may become a collaborator, advocate, or important connection years from now. Influence is rooted in feeling. Facts can inform people, but creating an emotional connection is what can make an idea stick and inspire long-term action. Pair stories with data. Data can show people what needs to happen, while storytelling gives them a reason to care enough to act. Treat social media like a conversation, not a press release. Effective leaders do more than broadcast organizational announcements. They add their own perspective, engage with others, and create value for the people they want to reach. Consistency lowers the stakes. Posting more often makes every individual post feel less consequential while helping leaders develop their voice and confidence. Use AI as a tool, not a crutch. AI can help refine ideas and accelerate the writing process, but leaders still need to ensure what they publish sounds like them and reflects their actual perspective. Personal influence can advance a bigger mission. A leader's visibility is not only about building a personal brand. It can help amplify an organization's expertise, create relationships, and open doors that otherwise may never appear. Quote of the Show: “Relationships are everything. You never know how we could be helpful to one another.” - Rudy Soto Links: Rudy SotoLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rudy-soto-7b22136/?isSelfProfile=false  Website: https://naihc.net/  Bryan MyersLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myersb/?isSelfProfile=false  Website: https://www.solidcore.co/  Erica PyattLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericapyatt/?isSelfProfile=false

Recorded live at the British Embassy in Washington, DC, in partnership with Global Ties US and National Digital Roundtable, this special episode brings together four leaders who have solved the same problem in very different rooms: how do you build trust when institutions are losing it? Katie Schubert (CEO, Society for Women's Health Research), Alejandra de Lecea (The World Bank Group), Christina Maruna (LinkedIn), and Matt Keller (Embassy of Liechtenstein) join Anthony Shop to unpack why, in an era of declining institutional trust, people carry messages further than logos can. The throughline: influence online is not about reach. It is about who says it, who reshares it, and whether the right people engage. The conversation also gets practical about the parts leaders struggle with most. Katie shares how peer pressure, not staff persuasion, is what finally gets CEOs to prioritize LinkedIn. Matt explains how a three-person embassy competes for attention without flooding the zone, and why resonance with the right audience beats likes from friends and family. Alejandra walks through how she sells influence to a board that wants impressions, and Christina offers a warning against the cookie-cutter amplification that reads as inauthentic. The panel closes with Anthony's See, Say, Do framework, a simple way to report return on influence up the chain without drowning in metrics, plus live questions from embassies, the DC Mayor's Office, the National Gallery of Art, and the US Global Leadership Coalition. Takeaways: Send a person, not a logo. Executives' posts earn far more engagement than company pages, so leaders who only clear their calendars for TV hits are missing where the audience actually is. Pick the right messenger per message. Official resources belong on the institutional page; personal stories, expertise, and relationships belong to individuals who can add what a brand cannot. Amplify with intent, not copy-paste. Coordinated cookie-cutter reposts read as inauthentic; a reshare with your own thinking, or a comment from the company page, builds far more. Build a constellation, not a single voice. Train staff at every level to show up, so influence does not live or die with one principal or one ambassador. Measure influence with See, Say, Do. Track what the right people saw, who said something (a reshare from the right organization beats a thousand anonymous likes), and what they did next. Quote of the Show: “When it comes to punching above your weight, it’s really the quality of the stuff that you’re putting out that matters. For us, it's really about quality over quantity." - Matt Keller Links: Alejandra de LeceaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandradelecea/ Website: https://www.worldbank.org/ext/en/home  Christina Maruna:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-maruna/  Matt KellerLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-keller-b188b94/  Website: https://www.liechtensteinusa.org/  Kathryn Godburn SchubertLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryngschubert/   Website: https://www.swhr.org/  Shout Outs: The British Embassy, Washington  Katherine A. Brown Global Ties US:  National Digital Roundtable  George Washington University College of Professional Studies PRSA-NCC

Amy Pisani has spent 30 years building trust in one of the hardest arenas for it: vaccines. As CEO of Vaccinate Your Family, she leads an organization founded by former First Lady Rosalynn Carter and former Arkansas First Lady Betty Bumpers, and she has watched the country's information landscape shift from a lack of information to outright disinformation. Her career offers a master class in a kind of influence most leaders never have to attempt: persuading people who are afraid, without judging them, while the loudest voices in the room profit from fear. Amy and Anthony explore how listening builds trust before you ever need it, how to pair science with the right messengers, and why leading with story before data might be the most underrated move in influence. Takeaways: Build coalitions before you need them. Betty Bumpers raised Arkansas vaccination rates from the 20th to the 70th percentile in two years by bringing together everyone who touched children's lives, not by waiting for systems to change. Meet people with empathy before information. Rosalynn Carter's posters said "Please immunize your child by age two." The word "please" reflected a philosophy: persuade through care, not commands. Lead with story, then bring the data. When Amy brought a mother from rural Virginia to Capitol Hill, the story of distance and barriers opened minds, and the data that followed made it credible. Find the movable middle. You cannot reach everyone. Focus on people with real questions and shared values, and answer them honestly without forcing a decision. Give your team permission to experiment. Vaccinate Your Family was early on Facebook and is now on TikTok because leaders gave younger communicators freedom to try new channels, and because Amy's founders once gave a 26-year-old the same freedom. Influence works better as a pull than a push. Amy defines their approach as removing barriers and answering questions, not selling. As she puts it, "It's just about getting to the heart of the matter, and it's keeping somebody from dying." Quote of the Show: “We lead with empathy. We’re all the same, right? It’s about finding that conversational piece where you can find yourself in the conversation, and then communicating clearly about the science.” Links: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/amy-pisani-385a4514  Website: https://vaccinateyourfamily.org/