This Is How You Open The Next Door: A Step-by-Step Guide To Building Influence
By Rezan Manan
🎧 Not a reader? You can listen to the full audio version
In part one, we uncovered the invisible leader problem: why hard work alone doesn’t open the next door. We spoke about visibility, sponsorship, and credibility, and the beliefs that keep women circling the loop.
Now comes the practical question: How do you actually build the influence that carries you forward?
The answer depends on your readiness, your character, and the path you choose.
The Psychology Comes First
Every tactic fails if the mindset doesn’t shift. Before you map sponsors or post a word on LinkedIn, you have to sit with the question:
“Am I ready to be seen differently?”
Because influence isn’t just about polishing your résumé, it’s about stepping out of a familiar comfort zone and into new terrain. It requires courage to put words to your vision, to speak before you feel perfectly prepared, to stop hiding behind the endless “next draft.”
And here’s the unexpected gift of age: the older we get, the freer we become from caring about the wrong things. That “I don’t give a damn anymore” energy is not cynicism. It’s clarity. It’s the fuel that lets you stop waiting and start moving.
The Radius of Your Influence
Influence that doesn’t travel is influence at risk.
If your power stops at the company gate, it’s time to pause and ask yourself: What would happen if I walked away tomorrow?
Would your influence translate beyond your title? Would the industry know your name? Would recruiters, boards, or competitors recognize your value, or would your impact disappear the moment your email address changes?
Even if you plan to stay where you are, this matters. Because influence that extends beyond your current employer gives you leverage inside it. When people know you have options, the dynamic shifts. You negotiate differently. You’re treated differently. You move differently.
So, map your radius. If we listed the top 10 or 15 people shaping your industry, the ones whose names open doors, how many of them do you know personally? How many of them know you?
If your influence doesn’t yet reach beyond your current circle, that’s not failure, it’s a signal. A cue to expand the field, to make sure your name travels where your next opportunities live.
Rethinking Visibility
When most people hear “visibility,” they picture loudness, reels, TikTok dances, endless posting. But that’s not visibility. That’s noise.
Visibility, in its truest sense, means being known within the circles that matter.
It’s the strategic awareness of your name and voice among the people who can open, invite, or endorse. That’s it.
For some, it’s a recurring column in an industry publication. For others, a couple of bylines in a respected newsletter, a panel seat, a conference keynote, a podcast interview or being part of a curated leadership circle.
Visibility also means having a digital footprint, so when someone Googles your name, they find proof of the leader you already are. It doesn’t need to be flashy. It just needs to be findable.
There are countless ways to build presence. The right way is the one that fits your values, your bandwidth, and your desired circles of influence.
True visibility sits at the intersection of three things:
Where you need to show up,
What you want to be known for, and
What you’re comfortable doing consistently.
That’s your visibility strategy, not imitation, but intention.
Choose Your Path
There is no one way to build influence. There are three. Which one you choose depends on your appetite, your bandwidth, and your support system.
1. Do It Yourself
For the independent self-starter.
What it looks like: You read, you write, you reach out. You teach yourself how to shape narrative, post consistently, and map sponsors.
Why it works: It builds muscle memory. You own every step of the process.
What it requires: Time, patience, and a willingness to fail forward.
2. Do It With Guidance
For the seeker who wants frameworks and feedback.
What it looks like: You work with a coach, join a circle, or learn from those who’ve done it. They provide scripts, you practice and apply.
Why it works: Shorter learning curve, fewer blind spots, safe space to stretch.
What it requires: Commitment, accountability, and openness to being challenged.
3. Have It Done For You
For the builder who knows her bandwidth is maxed.
What it looks like: A strategist crafts your narrative, a team repurposes your panels into posts, a brand expert amplifies your voice.
Why it works: You get consistent visibility without carrying the execution.
What it requires: Investment, trust, and staying close enough to keep it authentic.
None of these is “better.” What matters is choosing instead of drifting.
Anchor Your System
Before you build visibility, rebuild connection, to yourself, your story, and what you truly want next. These twelve steps will help you move from reflection to rhythm, from invisible to undeniable.
Step 1: Write Your Life Story
Start with you. Write freely about your childhood, values, early dreams, and lessons learned. Your origin story explains your resilience and your leadership lens.
Step 2: Map Your Career Journey
Document your professional path. What worked, what didn’t, what patterns kept you safe but small? Ask yourself: What got me here that won’t get me there?
Step 3: Build Your Achievement Inventory
List everything you’ve accomplished, projects, awards, milestones, impacts. High achievers forget their own wins. This list is your confidence fuel.
Step 4: Define Your Destination
Clarity is the compass. What do you want next, a promotion, board seat, legacy project, book, or new chapter? The route depends on the destination.
Step 5: Identify Your Target Audiences
Influence is relational. Map who needs to know you: decision-makers, sponsors, peers, media. Each goal has its own audience, know who you’re talking to.
Step 6: Define Your Tone of Voice
Your tone is your leadership signature. Decide how you want to sound and be felt, calm authority, strategic warmth, or visionary clarity, and stay consistent.
Step 7: Write Your Narrative Sentence
Distill your story into one clear line that captures who you are and the impact you create. This becomes your anchor for bios, intros, and conversations.
Step 8: Choose Your Visibility Channels
Be seen where it matters. Focus on 2–3 key platforms: LinkedIn, speaking, writing, media, or a portfolio site. Relevance beats volume.
Step 9: Create Your Visibility Rhythm
Set a sustainable cadence. One meaningful public moment a month, an article, talk, or feature, compounds faster than inconsistent bursts.
Step 10: Build Your Sponsor Map
List 10-15 people whose “yes” could change your next three years. Engage them with authenticity, reciprocity, and visible value.
Step 11: Reflect and Recalibrate
Every quarter, pause and review: What expanded your reach? What drained you? Drop what’s heavy, keep what’s true.
Step 12: Protect Your Energy Infrastructure
Influence can’t thrive on exhaustion. Block thinking time, protect your mornings, say no often. You are the system’s source code, if you crash, nothing runs.
Influence begins within. When you know your story, audience, rhythm, and boundaries, visibility stops being performance, it becomes power in motion.
Treat It as an Investment
Influence is not a luxury. It is the infrastructure of senior leadership.
DIY is an investment of time.
Guided is an investment of time + money.
Done-for-you is an investment of time + money + trust.
But the returns are exponential: board appointments, C-suite roles, new markets, greater security for you and your family.
One sponsor, one introduction, one visible moment can alter the trajectory of the next decade.
If you’re not sure where you stand today, start with my free Influence Visibility Scorecard. A short series of questions that give you a score and show exactly where to focus next. Think of it as a mirror for your influence: clear, direct, no guesswork.
Final Thoughts!
“Influence isn’t given, it’s built. And the first brick is not hard work, it’s the decision to be seen.”
It’s time we stop waiting for recognition that never arrives. Because the truth is, too many senior women remain invisible not because they lack impact, but because they never turned their impact into signals that travel.
We’ve been trained to deliver. We now get to be discovered, on purpose.
We get to choose our path: to do it ourselves, to do it with guidance, or to let trusted partners do it for us. What matters is not which path, but that the first step is taken.
🤔 Which path feels most like you today, DIY, guided, or done-for-you?
đź“Ś Know a woman standing at this threshold? Share this with her. Invite her into the conversation, not the waiting room.
♻️ If this landed, resonated, or stirred something in you, pass it on. Because doors don’t open by themselves, they open when we dare to move.
If you’re ready to start building your next chapter, let’s talk. And if you enjoyed this piece, you’ll love our weekly Wednesday drop, real, bold, unfiltered, practical, and actionable conversations you didn’t know you needed, straight to your inbox. [Sign Up Today]
