Positioning is the way you combine all of your knowledge of influence to actually influence others. Because as you employ the various theories you have been learning so far, you chisel and sculpt the persona that you project outwardly to people. Think of positioning as the conscious effort to become a person of great influence. […]
Influence Academy Blog
The Two Types Of Self Awareness
With the presence of the self comes the realization that we are all distinct individuals with peculiar behaviors, drives and desires. This individuation (which occurs on the most basic levels of human community and interaction) is defined by self-awareness. Self-awareness is like your rear-view and side-view mirrors: it gives you a way to evaluate your […]
Creating an Influential Persona
When a person wants to influence others, he is essentially creating a distinct identity that will help the person carry out his goal. A distinct portion of this identity is called the persona. What is a persona? The Webster-Merriam Dictionary defines persona as “the identity that a person projects to the public”. There should be […]
The Ten Human Needs
Each and every one of our human needs is directly related to the desire to achieve control. If we want something out of life, it’s because we believe that having it will provide more control over experiencing pleasure or avoiding pain. Some people’s human needs supersede others. These are known as their dominate needs. First […]
The 3 Types Of Eye Gazes
Recently I posted an article about some of (what I consider to be) very interesting facts about the eyes and how you can learn a lot about what a person is thinking by simply paying closer attention to things like pupil dilation. Someone had posted a comment which was actually a question about how you […]
More Framing Research Shows Compliance Rates Quadrupled
One study by Kahneman, Slovic And Tversky proved yet again how powerful framing truly is. They presented hundreds of subjects with two situations and asked which option they would choose. Situation A: You win $1,000 in a game. You now have a choice between a guaranteed $500 or a 50% chance of winning an additional […]
The Real Reason People Value Certain Things
French marketing professor Ziv Carmon teamed up MIT's Dan Ariely to perform a study on nearly 100 students from Duke University. They divided the students into 2 groups. The students in group A were asked to state the highest price they would pay for a ticket to the NCAA Final Four basketball tournament while the […]
Body Language 101: What Can We Tell From The Legs?
When it comes to reading body language, many people focus on the most obvious and easy-to-read areas; the eyes and the arms. And while both areas are extremely important, you wouldn't believe what you could learn about a person by paying closer attention to their legs and there are a few reasons why. Firstly, people […]
Body Language 101: Arm Crossing Decoded
We learn at a very early age to hide behind barriers when we want to protect ourselves. As we get older and hiding behind objects like our mother's skirts, tables, chairs, etc. became unacceptable, we subconsciously find other ways to protect ourselves and one of the "go to" tactics is by crossing the arms. Arm-crossing […]
What Lies In The Eyes? Apparently A Lot
Much of what you read about on this site has to do with verbal communication. But the truth of the matter is that when it comes to influence and persuasion, verbal communication actually matters the least. The reason why I write so much about verbal communication is because I think much of the tactics are […]