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Have you noticed?

When someone does what we want, it’s because we are genius communicators. We credit ourselves for knowing how to convince people to change their behaviour.

When they don’t do what we want, we blame them. They don’t get it. They’re stubborn. They don’t listen to reason.

This is the fundamental attribution error: Blaming (or crediting) the person rather than the context.

Let’s be clear, though.

Influencing someone isn’t a superpower.

It’s a process.

👉A repeatable, learn...

To the passerby, all cows look the same. To the farmer, each is unique.

Your products are like this. 

You can see how each is special. How they are different from your competitors.

But to your customer, are they just looking at a field of cows?

Learn how to stand out through the science of influencing action.

Whether it’s your phone vibrating, a rumble of your car’s engine, the tingle of your minty toothpaste or the bubbles in your drink, products come with sensory signals. Some are inadvertent, some are deliberate.

For example, advances in build quality meant the engines of modern day Mustangs were too quiet. They just didn’t sound “Mustang-y” enough. That’s why some models use speakers to generate tones that mimic the sound of a V-8 engine. 

Part of Red Bull’s allure is that, unlike Coke or Pe...

“One morning, one of us ran out of the black, it was the birth of Impressionism.” - Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Perhaps a poetic, revisionist take on the start of a new style of art, but Renoir speaks to unexpected blessings of constraint.

When something you’ve relied on is taken away, a vacuum is created.

A creative vacuum.

👉 The modern day challenge, for many of us, is not absence but abundance.

Abundance is confusing because it requires discernment. Decisions are about which rather than whe...

A safety blanket that smothers us.

That’s how I think about email and channels like Slack and Teams.

We all complain about the volume of messages and meetings we have to wade through, but honestly, I think they are our safety blanket.

Because input is easier than output.

It’s easier to respond than create something new.

When I get frazzled, bored or overwhelmed, for example, you know what I do? 

I turn to social media. For more input.

Because input is easier than output.

I believe AI ...

Think you know how to influence?

You’re right.

You do.

You know your way to influence.

And it obviously works…to an extent.

You wouldn’t have gotten to where you are without some level of influencing skills.

But I’m guessing that being where you are comes with lots of frustrating follow ups, blown timeframes and compromises. 

👉 So, do you know the best way to influence?

Because they’re not necessarily the same.

Your way relies on subjective experience.

The better way relies on objec...

“Answer your phone in a brusque manner” was advice I got years ago.

By sounding abrupt, the theory was you could dismiss those you didn’t want to talk to, but delight those you did once they heard the contrasting warmth you reserved specially for them.

Well, new research reveals how you can increase customer satisfaction by varying the degree of warmth you and your team use in conversation. 

Hot Vs. Cold

Let’s say you are closing a customer service call. Should you say “It was my ple...

Brad the Breather is a real person. 

I met him at a health retreat a number of years ago where he taught us how to breathe correctly.

Big, life changing belly breaths.

Did I know I wasn’t breathing correctly? 

No. It had never occurred to me that I was doing it wrong.

“Most people don’t have any clue about the process of breathing”, says Brad Thompson, “it’s just something they automatically do”.

Just something we automatically do.

And until I experienced how different it could be, I w...

Rock Climbers hang on by their fingertips.

Not only does this make their fingers stronger than average, rock climbers rely on them to ‘feel the rock’ so they know where to move next.

This is how I’ve come to think of small business owners. 

Most of us hang on by our fingertips as we’re scaling the heights.

We don’t have a large margin of error.

There’s rarely a safety net.

Yet we do it because it’s our pursuit.

Which is why I put so much effort and care into my Just Do This program for...

Never show the shark.

When creating Jaws, director Steven Spielberg faced massive problems with the robotic shark.

It looked stupid. It kept breaking down.

So what did he do?

He changed the film’s point of view.

Instead of seeing the shark, the audience sees what the shark sees: the next unsuspecting victim.

This made the movie all the more menacing, and changed the way horror films are shot.

Hence, “never show the shark”.

In your work, it’s the opposite.

I’m guessing you don’t wan...