Great observations, especially your point about having the reputation of someone they can trust. I think too often we view persuasion as something negative, but it really is a necessary part of our jobs as leaders.
Leadership researcher & author Jay Conger wrote a great article on this topic for Harvard Business Review called "The Necessary Art of Persuasion." If you have access to archived copies of HBR it might be worth a read. It is in the May-June 1998 edition.
Ryan
