Influence grows quietly when people begin adjusting themselves around your reactions.

The clearest sign of influence is not that people obey you, it is that they begin managing you. They soften news, choose their timing, avoid subjects that produce a reaction, and none of it is announced. By the time this is happening, you are receiving a curated version of reality without having asked for one.

Ask whether anyone brings you bad news early. If information tends to arrive late and pre-smoothed, that is a fact about how you respond, not about their courage. The fix is in how you react to the next difficult thing you hear.