Influential Leadership

Attended an IEEE Networking Dinner on Monday - Sam Palazzolo of Pathos Leadership spoke. Are you an influencer or an influenced person? If you do a favour for someone and he thanks you, the influential response is "You'd have done the same for me". Don't say you're welcome, don't mention it, etc.

There are 6 themes - reciprocity, consistency and commitment, liking, authority, social proof and scarcity.

• You should use information to differentiate yourself. If you have useful information - share it.
• People like other people who compliment them and cooperate with them - charisma.
• Authority is founded on knowledge and trustworthiness.
• When you want someone to say yes to a request, you can try to first present him with a big request that he's sure to say no to. Present in a nice way that'll make him feel bad to say no. Then, present him a smaller request that will be easier for him to say yes to. For example, girl scouts trying to sell cookies will say - would you like to chaperone one of our sleepovers. No? Then how about buying 2 boxes of cookies instead? (Really? David Lieberman presents research on the foot-in-the-door technique - get them to say yes to a small request first then present the bigger one after you've primed them.
• When you are trying to sell people something, the negative sometimes might work better when you try to get them to go from A to B. If you watch diet/slimming commercials, you'll see this in action.
• Your legacy is made up of your work, family, health, happiness and friendships.
• Ask yourself "In what area is it clear that I can't get to where I want to go with the story I've got?"

If some or all of this didn't make sense to you, you're probably not alone.