The Responsible Influence in uncertain times.

Responsible Influence in uncertain times

Revolutions… In western culture, we recognise this generally in text books or three hour films.

They start, they have a middle and they end. Not many will generally reflects on how much time there is in between. I am talking the anxieties, the advocacy fatigue, the systematic shutdowns, the financial and emotional toll it takes on civilisations.

That version is comforting.
It’s also very misleading. The education system did my generation dirty.

I am going to be honest here, I was concerned with how this was going to come across. Being in communications, generally, I think like this anyway- but I am not going to be concerned with structure for this blog post. This world needs real, and I am here to share my mind for you.

I wan’t to remind you in this moment: everyone has influence. The only question is how they’re using it.

Influence isn’t platforms and microphones.
It’s tone. Consistency. Restraint when you need to restrain. Decision making.
It’s also what you normalise and what you allow to pass unchallenged.

Right now, life feels like pure chaos for a lot of people, particularly in the United States and increasingly everywhere. This dramatic collapse of global order; along side constant pressure and stress. Economic strain that doesn’t move. Social tension like nothing we’ve ever seen.

But here is something we rarely speak about.

Exhaustion. Something that does not neutralise influence but something that requires navigation and careful instinct. Moments like what we are seeing in every industry? They expose weak leadership and other peoples values.

Under pressure, values stop being something you say and start being something you do. They show up in how you speak when tension rises, what behaviour you excuse, what you amplify for attention, and what you quietly abandon because it’s inconvenient or not apart of your agenda.

Some uses of influence stabilise communities or make changes for positive purpose.
Others accelerate harm while pretending to be courage.

Using influence well is a lot like stewardship - protecting people and places you didn’t create but are somehow responsible for. It looks like staying close to real humans instead of hiding behind slogans. It looks like discernment when the world demands simplicity. It looks like dignity when dehumanisation would be more profitable. It looks like consistency, not performance.

Using influence poorly often looks bolder. Louder. Faster. Performance replaces principle. Something we often see in the digital world. This is where visibility replaces responsibility. Outrage becomes identity. Moral shortcuts are justified because the cause feels righteous.

That kind of influence creates noise with ZERO trust attached. Most people who are influenced by performative influence aren’t choosing between good and evil intentionally. They’re choosing (repeatedly) between ignorance and integrity.

And those choices are absolutely everywhere.
They happen in meetings.
In comment sections.
In families.
In communities.
In the P&C at school even.

This is where influence actually lives. Around you.

Let’s talk about how our generations (gen alpha to our boomer friends particularly, shout out to our “silent gen” friends who have seen it all at this point) We are new age pioneers. You cannot change my mind. But, Pioneers simply don’t get momentum first. They get resistance.

When you are standing up for something 24/7, it feels heavy. That’s because you’re carrying something real.

This is usually where people step back. Go quiet. Tell themselves it’s not worth the cost. But stepping back doesn’t remove influence — it transfers it.

Things don’t calm down before they change.
They strain first, in many ways.

It’s knowing that influence doesn’t pause just because you’re weary and that how you use it still counts. This is probably one of the harder sentences I have written. I know just how shit tired people have been.

Standing forward doesn’t mean pushing harder or performing leadership. It means refusing to let your influence collapse into cruelty, carelessness, or fear… even when you’re holding the line with tired hands.

Change doesn’t start at scale. It starts locally, in how influence is exercised inside communities. In what you model under pressure. In what you refuse to amplify. In who you protect. In where you choose steadiness over spectacle.

Impact is not reach like social media wants us to believe.
It’s a responsibility.

It’s using whatever influence you have (imperfect, local, human) to stop things getting worse where you stand. Revolutions don’t always roar. Some of them endure. And this one? Well, it’s both.

This moment doesn’t ask for heroes. It asks for people who will not misuse their influence just because they’re tired.
Hold the line. Rest and lean on your community when your tired.

This is no movie we are all living through, and understanding your power is impactful and has never been as important.