#592 Influencing Without Rank: How to Lead Without Formal Authority | Mark Christiani and Niels Brabandt
Influencing Without Rank: How to Lead When You Have No Formal Authority
Your boss can tell you what to do. But how do you influence people when you have no hierarchy, no authority and no rank behind you? For a growing number of professionals, this is the everyday reality. Project leads, internal consultants, specialists and change agents are expected to deliver results through people who do not report to them. This week I spoke with Mark Christiani, who has lived this transition in one of the most hierarchical environments imaginable.
From Ranger to civilian coach
Mark Christiani served in the 1st Battalion of the US Army's 75th Ranger Regiment. After leaving the military, he returned as a civilian strength and conditioning coach, including as a brigade lead coach in the Army's Holistic Health and Fitness programme, and today he works in human performance integration with O2X Human Performance. When he came back as a civilian, none of his previous rank or authority came with him. His task was to change the culture of military units towards better performance, sleep, nutrition and health, without the power to order anyone to do anything. His book, Influence Without Rank, draws on exactly that experience.
Relationships first
His first lesson is not new, as he openly admits, but it is consistently ignored: relationships are the focal point of influence. Before you can change anything, you need rapport, and before you can build rapport, you need a reputation.
That reputation is built in a simple way. Show up. Do what you say you will do. Follow through. Then use that reputation to have real conversations: ask people where their pain points are, what they struggle with, and what you could take off their plate. People rarely resist someone who makes their working day easier.
The advantage of having no rank
The most surprising part of our conversation was Mark Christiani's view that the absence of rank can be an advantage. When people listed their problems, for example that one department did not talk to another, he could simply walk over and ask the other department what was slowing them down. No hierarchy held him back.
Even more important: people tell someone without authority things they would never tell their boss. They fear that a superior will not listen, or that raising a problem will be held against them. Someone without rank is safe to talk to. That makes the person without formal power a natural connector, able to link departments, present options to the top and improve communication across the organisation.
How to bring bad news without becoming the problem
Connecting departments often means carrying bad news, and we all know what happens to the messenger. Mark Christiani's answer is attitude. Show up every day with the clear message that you are there to help, not to create extra work and not to punish anyone. When you do have to deliver uncomfortable news, explain the why: the shared goal behind it and why it will make work better for everyone. People accept difficult messages far more easily from someone they trust.
One percent better, every month
What about situations that will not change quickly? In the military, as in many public organisations and large companies, budgets are fixed years in advance. Mark Christiani's approach is incremental: if you cannot reach the big goal now, make everyone's life one percent better this month, and one percent better next month. After a while, people notice that things have improved since you arrived.
His warning applies to every organisation: do not make perfect the enemy of good. A solution that is a little better is worth implementing, even if it is not the final answer.
Why this matters for business leaders
Mark Christiani's experience comes from the military, but the pattern is universal. In matrix organisations, project structures and cross-functional teams, formal authority is often limited or shared. Internal consultants, HR business partners, IT specialists and quality managers are all expected to change behaviour in parts of the organisation they do not control. Those who rely on escalation quickly lose goodwill. Those who build relationships, listen and deliver small improvements reliably become the people others seek out. Senior leaders should recognise this informal influence, protect it and use it, because it often reaches further than any memo from the top.
A practical book, not a theoretical one
The book is deliberately practical. Each chapter tells real stories of situations that worked and situations that did not, followed by three to four concrete actions readers can apply immediately. At just under 200 pages, it is written for anyone who has to lead without a title, not only for those with a long academic background.
Three steps you can take tomorrow
1. Build your reputation through reliability before you try to change anything.
2. Listen first: ask people where their pain points are and help remove them.
3. Aim for one percent improvement per month, and explain the why behind every change.
Influence without rank is not a weaker form of leadership. In modern organisations, it is often the most important one. I wish you every success in applying this in your organisation.
Niels Brabandt
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More on this topic in this week's videocast and podcast with Niels Brabandt: Videocast / Apple Podcasts / Spotify
For the videocast’s and podcast’s transcript, read below this article.
Is excellent leadership important to you?
Let's have a chat: NB@NB-Networks.com
Contact: Niels Brabandt on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nielsbrabandt
Website: www.NB-Networks.biz
Podcast and Videocast Transcript
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Of course your boss can tell you what to do the question is How do you influence people when you do not have the hierarchy the authority Or the rank behind it and that's of course a big question for many because more And more people are informal leaders Rather than formal leaders still have to get the business done we have an expert On the matter with us here today hello and welcome Mark Christiani.
Mark Christiani: Hey thanks for having me out
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Thank you very much for taking the time you wrote an excellent book, Influence Without Rank. So my question, of course, first is what motivated you To write this book at this point in time?
Mark Christiani: Yeah, so a big motivation behind it was after leaving the military, I became a strength and conditioning coach. I came back as a civilian working for the US Army as a strength and conditioning Coach. And when I came back, I didn't have any of my previous rank. I didn't have any of my previous authority. And I had to step into a situation and influence the culture and lead from a Human performance standpoint within a military organization without any of that authority. And I see a lot of coaches as the military expands their human performance numbers, Stepping into that same situation and struggling to understand how do I get People to buy into my program? How can I influence the culture of this organization? And how can I overall help as many people as possible without that inherent authority?
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Yeah, excellent. So when people say, hey, this is exactly my situation, I step in, probably people say, I'm not waiting for this program to happen. And I have a pile of work to do. Now you show up. You want to influence my culture, My performance, my team, whatever else. However, you do not have the rank. What should I do when they are especially used to actually work by a rank during All day of their business or their organization?
Mark Christiani: Yeah, I think the first thing you need to do is start creating relationships And build rapport and with the with the people you're working with. So that that looks like having real in real conversations, asking them where Their pain points are. What are they struggling with? What work can you take off someone's plate that they're like, Hey, man, this is just a little overwhelming. You're the subject matter expert. Can you help me with this? But you get to that point by having a strong reputation and showing up, Following through on what you say you're going to do, and then using that strong Reputation to build rapport with the individuals that you're working with. And then you can start creating some influence once you have that positive relationship. And I don't think I'm the inventor of this by any means. I think there's been books written about this for years, decades now. But relationships are the the focal point of influence
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Absolutely when you now say hey I often meet people who are frustrated by the Situation so I give you a situation people say we get our staff cut short every Single day budget problems left right and center procurement takes forever material Is outdated now you show up And you want to influence me without the rank while I'm already struggling to listen to To the people who have the rank so how do I overcome these resistances when You have issues where people say this is beyond my control but it frustrates Me on a daily basis and now you show up.
Mark Christiani: Yeah, so I think one of the best parts about not having any rank is I would Go into those situations and people are like, they give me this list of problems And I'm like, all right, cool. Why is this an issue? And they're like, Well, you know, this department doesn't talk to this department. It's like, great. I can go talk to that department. I don't have like, there's nothing holding Me back. So I'm going to talk to that department. Hey, what's causing your guys to slow down? Where's the issue here? And they tell me like, oh, you know, Like this process doesn't work. It's like, okay, cool. Like, Let me see the process. Let's show me what it is. They show me what it is. We kind of get a good relationship going. And then it's like, okay, well, you know who I do have access to. And like my rank does, like, I don't have the rank or anything or any like authority, But I can go to the top because I usually have some sort of relationship with the person at the top. And I can say, like, hey, you know, you're getting a lot of resistance down Here from this department who's influencing this other department. And it's causing this big slowdown. And maybe you haven't seen it because you're Not able to move freely amongst that organization. You kind of have to stay In your department, your individual area. But I built these positive relationships with individuals. And they're telling me what's going on. A lot of times I find people don't want to tell their boss, tell someone with Authority what's going on because they feel like, hey, they might not listen to me or they might Feel like it's a negative, but I don't have any authority. They'll tell me everything. So then I can kind of come in and present some options or some solutions or Maybe link people up so they can start a conversation. And then as an outsider's perspective, you're providing all these relationships That are moving the company, the organization forward, and you're helping improve The overall culture and communication of that organization.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Absolutely. How do you now prevent that you fall for – I mean, We all know that sometimes you have to link departments up and you probably Don't have good news with you. We all know that the messenger of the, Let's say, not so great news very quickly becomes the unpopular person in the room. So how can you do that when you say, hey, I have to link up departments only With bad news, but they actually decide about my engagement. So I don't want to fall for the trap of I bring bad news. So they say, Oh, Mark is really a troubling person. We should bring someone else. He's just messing things up here. How do I balance this conflict?
Mark Christiani: Yeah, so that's a good question. that's a really good question because like You said it can be perceived as you're causing trouble yeah I think when you Start from a place of like I'm here to help. I'm not here to cause extra work. I think in the end, We're going to reach a agreement where everyone benefits from it. And you really show up every day with the attitude of I'm here to help. I'm here to provide assistance. I'm not here to punish anybody, those kinds of things. You create that positive relationship with people and you create that buy-in Into what you're talking about. And then, yeah, if you bring bad news, you can lessen that blow by being like Hey like maybe we have some bad news here but this is our end goal and our end Goal is going to be more efficient for everybody it's going to be better for Everybody and really explain the why behind You bringing that maybe unfortunate news to a department
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: So when you know say hey you you you bring this news and let's say everything Starts to communicate well and maybe someone says look even if you bring all Of this together I know the decisions here take forever because when budgets Are cut, budgets are cut and They're not going to reappear overnight. So how do you deal with when you are the external person without the rank? And you probably have to tell people that the situation is not going to improve, let's say overnight.
Mark Christiani: Yeah. Yeah. So the military, as you probably know, budgets are.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: That's exactly why I said, yes.
Mark Christiani: Yeah. The budgets are a thing that are years, sometimes multiple years in advance Yeah before we're able to make any changes and The way that I've always handled that is small, incremental, like 1% changes. Maybe we're not going to hit the Massive end goal, but maybe we can make everyone's life like 1% better. And then the next month, we make it 1% better. And the next month, we make it 1% better. And then all of a sudden, people are like, hey, man, it's pretty good having You around. Yeah, it's not perfect, but it's better than it was. And I think that comes into sometimes people like make perfect the enemy of good. And it's like well if we can get to a good solution that is going to be a little bit better It might not be perfect but we're working towards perfect and Don't like throw the whole idea out just because you're not at the end goal Yet you can still make those like small incremental changes and it really comes Back to explaining the why behind it to people like explain that explain that why and It's hard to explain that why if you don't have a good relationship with the Person because they're just not going to hear you out. So then it all comes back to like initially creating those positive relationships Within your organization. And a lot of that just starts with listening. Sit down, talk to people, go to have lunch with everybody, try to build that Rapport. And when you become a trusted entity, then you can start to have some Influence in a positive way.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Brilliant, brilliant. When people don't say, hey, I think I really should buy This book. And then, because that's something when I prepared for this interview, Some people said, look, I see army ranger, bachelor's degree, Master's degree with massive career. And then they ask, what kind of read am I going to expect? Because some people Said, I'm not that kind of career person as of yet. I don't have the academic, Degrees. Am I able to follow through? So what kind of read is the book going to be?
Mark Christiani: Yeah, so the book is a lot of stories, a lot of stories about situations where I was faced with a tough situation or was successful in a situation or where I wasn't successful in a situation. And kind of what I learned from those. At the end of every chapter, there's also... Three to four bullets on plans or things you can do in your current situation, Like things to think about journal journals to write, uh, you know, Small changes that you can make. And I wanted to make a book like, come on, I'm a strength coach. I'm not that smart. I'm just normal, normal guy. Um, you know, like I like lifting weights and I like working out and influencing An organization and trying to change in a culture within the military to be more, um, More focused on their human performance, their sleep, their nutrition, Their, their health and wellness. Um, you know, that was, that was my goal. And a lot of that stuff just starts With very simple conversations. And I think anyone can pick up this book. Like I said, I I'm not a writer. I'm not super smart. Like we're, we're talking about, uh, you know, a book that is written for everybody And that can be applied directly. Like as the end of every chapter, You've got some application that you can do. I wanted something, I love those, I love reading leadership books, And I love reading like culture development books, but a lot of them, It's very theory-based.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Yeah.
Mark Christiani: So I tried to provide the practical stories. It's like, hey, This is how this situation worked. This is how I built this relationship. This is the end outcome of, from start to finish, this situation. And here's some things you can do to kind of rethink your situation and how You can, you can get a little bit better. So I really wanted the book to be applied. And I think we hit the nail on the head. If you don't think so, grab the book, tell me, love to hear feedback. So absolutely, absolutely think this is a book that everyone can read and take Something away from. Also, it's not very long. It's pretty short. It's only like, it's right under 200 pages. So you can knock this out. I've had friends knock this out in like a weekend And, you know, it gave me a lot of good feedback and things to learn from.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Brilliant. And talking about feedback, when people now read the book, I have one last question. When people now read the book and say, hey, I think Mark is really helpful probably To our organization or to me as a leader without rank, or we want to have him As our speaker for our conference. One final question. How can people reach out?
Mark Christiani: Yeah. So I use LinkedIn a lot. So everyone's welcome to reach out to me on LinkedIn, Mark Christiani on LinkedIn, or they can shoot me an email at mark.christiani2006 at gmail.com. I'm happy to talk to anybody. You shoot me an email or you hit me with a message on LinkedIn, I'll give you my phone number. We can connect on WhatsApp or we Can do a phone call if you're here in the States and we can talk it out. Love talking to people about this stuff. Love hearing new ideas. I think every time someone talks to me about the book or something that they've Learned, we always workshop and I learn something new from them as well. So I really think it's a good conversation starter. It can be beneficial to a lot of people.
Niels Brabandt EMBA MBA MSc: Yeah, I think these are the perfect final words. Leading without rank. You now know that you can influence people without having the rank and this Book is going to tell you how. So at the end of this podcast and videocast, There's only one thing left for me to say, Mark. Thank you very much for your time.
Mark Christiani: Thank you, Niels. I appreciate it.