When I say these two words in my head, they each evoke a different reaction. Manipulation I view, not necessarily as a bad thing, but as a concious effort to encourage someone to do what you want them to. Manipulating a situation can happen in many different ways... waiting to disclose information until the opportune moment, dressing a certain way, acting a certain way, and many other things that a person does to intentionally encourage their desired outcome. Influence, at least the way I view it, is not an intentional act all of the time. I am influenced by many people and situations that happen every day... and I am pretty sure none of the people involved know who I am or are trying to encourage me to do something they want.
The Influence Tactics article mentioned the difference between hard and soft tactics. The one that I relate most to Influence is the Symbol Management. This is the "lead by example" technique, and while it could be a form of manipulation, I view it more as influence, since you can never be sure who is noticing your actions and being influenced by them.
I suppose, in my view, when an action has an agenda, it is a form of manipulation.. and when an action has an unplanned affect on someone, it is influence. I know that this view is not completely accurate, since people "influence" other people all the time. However in my mind, influence is something that is exuded from a person or situation that has an un planned affect on another person. If the affect or action is planned, then it is a form of manipulation. In my mind that is...
I think what I liked most about Cat's post was her statement that manipulation usually has an agenda, where influence mostly happens all on it's own. This goes along with what I think, that influence is mostly good and manipulation is usually something you do with an outcome in mind. Like Jacqueline said, it is not as black and white as one would hope. Unfortunately, in this case and in business in general, most situations are in the gray area. Core values and intentions will determine the true character of those who are manipulating or influencing and I believe that is the most important fact.
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