People differ, attitude differs, thought differs, and opinion
differs. These are the terms I read in various newspaper, heard from some
management thinkers and some friends. Technically speaking, these terms are
absolutely true. Everything is in this world are different (Both tangible and
intangible). They have certain unique things on their own. In this post I’m
going to discuss about two terms 'Influence' and 'Manipulation'. Both are
elusive terms.
When I was attending the Leadership training program in my
company, the trainer he asked about what are the good traits of a Leader? When
I was about to give an answer, someone in the hall already gave that same
answer. In order to show my presence, suddenly I said "Leader should be a
good manipulator". Everyone in the room started staring at me like I said
an offensive word. Trainer asked me with his widely opened eyes,
"Manipulator?” I said "Yes, sir". If you take the example of
Adolf Hitler...He interrupted me and said "No, no. You are going
out of topic."
Last night, I had a long discussion about these two terms with my
friend. His opinion is both the terms are different. I asked him why? He tried
to convince me by saying lots of thing but i wasn't convinced. We talked about
sender's end and receiver's end. Sender is the guy who is manipulating or
influencing. Receiver is the guy who gets manipulated or influenced. In the
verge of discussion, he said "If the receiver is happy and feel proud of it
then we can say he is influenced" and the vice verse "If the
receiver is unhappy and not felling proud of it then we can say he is
manipulated". Yeah, it makes sense. Some say 'influence' is a
positive connotation and 'manipulation' is a negative connotation. This not at
all making any sense to me because I’m saying both influence and manipulation
are same in this present world.
When I posted I say 'Manipulation' and 'Influence' are same in Facebook.
One of my friends commented like this "of course..
u can say anythin u want.. its fb n not xam paper.. Oh God, I don't know what to reply for
this. Some friends said attitude differs. Some friends accepted my opinion.
I don't know which one is true. Is it same or different? In order
to rationalize my statement “I say 'Manipulation' and 'Influence' are same”
I have the following opinion
According to me nothing will come for free except parent's
love. Influencing or manipulating other people means making other people
to do something for them or to others or to himself or herself i.e., influencer
or manipulator. Influence is same that of manipulation. Why do people
influence someone to do something? Because they need some benefit out of it. If
the people seek for benefit from others, that means they are manipulating
others to do something. So, influence=manipulation. No one is going to waste
their time to do something, if they are not getting anything out of it.
