Influence is About 'Soft Power' with Vivian Schiller

Vivian Schiller has spent her career at the forefront of nearly every major transformation in modern media. From serving as President and CEO of NPR and Global Chair of News at Twitter to leading NYTimes.com and serving as Chief Digital Officer of NBC News, Vivian has repeatedly stepped into moments of disruption and helped organizations navigate what comes next.

In this episode of Chief Influencer, Vivian joins host Anthony Shop to discuss what decades of leading through change have taught her about trust, influence, and leadership. They explore why soft power can be more effective than formal authority, why great leaders don’t need to be the smartest people in the room, and how curiosity, listening, empathy, and kindness help bring people together. Vivian also shares her perspective on the changing media landscape, the growing influence of creators, and why the biggest threat from AI may not be believing something fake, but reaching a point where people stop believing anything at all.

Takeaways:

• Soft power is the real power. Influence built through relationships, collaboration, and trust can accomplish more than relying on a title or organizational hierarchy.
• You don’t need to be the smartest person in the room. Strong leaders know how to surround themselves with expertise, listen, connect the dots, and bring people together around a shared goal.
• Curiosity makes you a better listener. Vivian connects curiosity to listening, empathy, understanding different perspectives, and finding common ground.
• Meet people where they are. Leaders and institutions can’t simply expect audiences to come to them. They have to understand how people discover and consume information and adapt accordingly.
• Influence comes from providing value. Whether information comes from an individual creator or a major institution, Vivian believes authority is earned through the value, rigor, honesty, and transparency you bring to your audience.
• AI is creating a new challenge for trust. The greater danger may not be that people fall for one convincing deepfake, but that they begin to assume anything could be fake and stop trusting what they see and hear altogether.
• The tools change, but influence remains human. Technology and platforms continue to evolve, but Vivian believes influence still comes back to curiosity, listening, empathy, and finding commonality with others.

Quote of the Show:

• “If your power is derived solely by an organizational chart and by your saying, ‘I’m the boss, you report to me,’ you’ve already lost. Soft power is the real power.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivianschiller/ 
• Website: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/ 

Shout Outs:

• Søren Kierkegaard
• Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
• NPR
• The New York Times
• Twitter
• NBC News
• CNN
• Discovery Times Channel
• Craig Newmark Philanthropies