Human Design · Throat center

Gate 31: Influence

Leading because you were asked.

When it overshoots

Leading because nobody stopped you.

At its best

Influence held on loan.

Carried and open

In a chart that carries it

Carried natally, the voice that leads is amplified, and leading because you were asked keeps it strong.

In a chart where it is open

With the gate open, others may look to you to lead; accepting and declining are both honest answers.

When it is in the sky

Influence is on offer, and it works best once it has been invited.

The six lines

1. Line 1, The InvestigatorInfluence starts with knowing what you stand for before anyone asks to be led.
2. Line 2, The HermitA leading voice simply arrives on this line, and a room turns toward it before anyone has called for order.
3. Line 3, The MartyrStepping forward uninvited shows, sometimes painfully, what an invitation would have been worth.
4. Line 4, The OpportunistInfluence moves through relationships, and those who know you best grant it most readily.
5. Line 5, The HereticSpeaking for others only when asked is what keeps them willing to be spoken for.
6. Line 6, The Role ModelThe influence that lasts is the sort that leaves others able to lead without it.

Channels through this gate

• The Alpha · 7-31Leadership, for better or worse. Influence given by others. The role only works when it was granted. With Gate 7, The Role of the Self.

The same figure in the Book of Changes

Gate 31 is hexagram 31, Influence, read by an older tradition.