How to become an Influencer.

[Padraig]

For me it's the whole idea of people being trained to 'influence' others. Inform them, yes. But persuade them to do something which is somebody's else's interest, whether commercial, political or anything else, seems sinister to me. If people aren't equipped to make decisions on their own, why persuade them to make certain decisions at all?

I'm thinking along lines of non-decision makers assisting in the process of selling the ideas of the decision maker. I assume, for example, that one would not want to assist in selling political decisions which were contrary to their own principles. The qualification for influencing would be in the successful completion of the proposed University degree course which includes useful persuasive skills, and I would expect ethical aspects. I imagine that part of the work experience in the course would involve less controversial topics than politics but the principles would apply even so.