What’s holding you back from focus right now?

Most of us started this year with (hopefully) some clarity on what we want to set in motion. Goals we want to kick, freedom we want to create, impact and influence we want to build.

Yet what if I told you that the key to achieving any of those intentions was a commitment to doing less rather than more?

My guest today is the King of getting maximum impact, with minimum distraction.

Today’s Guest

Erik Qualman is a 5 time #1 Bestselling Author and speaker, having performed in over 55 countries and reached over 50 million people. His books ‘Socialnomic: How social media transforms the way we live and do business’, ‘Digital Leader – Five simple keys to success and influence’ and his latest ‘The Focus Project – The not so simple art of doing less’ have been on the CEO lists of must-reads for over a decade.

Erik’s work first caught my attention a few years ago. When a video he created seemed like it was being played on loop by every influencer, industry expert and CEO I knew. Literally every conference I attended or spoke at - Erik’s video was played from the stage.

That video was ‘Socialnomics’, a video trailer for what would become his bestselling book of the same name.

It was a two minute visual feast detailing everything you need to know, and couldn’t have imagined, about the rise of social media. If you haven’t seen it, or want to see a book trailer that literally created a global best seller, check it out here.

So, needless to say, I’ve wanted to dive into Erik’s brain for awhile.

Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok: @equalman

You’ll Learn

• How Erik created ‘Socialnomics’ and the keys to using content for massive cut through.
• The story behind Erik’s legendary lime green glasses and why stepping through your story, rather than avoiding it, is the most powerful thing you can do to stand out.
• Why Erik wrote ‘The Focus Project’ as the ‘anti-venom’ to his first book. A journey that began when he noticed his own inability to focus into a world of digital distraction.
• What’s on Erik’s ‘Not To Do’ list right now – and how you can learn way more from learning what someone is committed not to doing, than what they’re hoping to attempt.
• Finally, the advice he gives his own children about how to manage their focus and make a mark, in a world of never ending distraction.

The biggest piece of gold I got out of this conversation was a question I have since shared with many people in my inner circle who are trying to focus:

“What’s the ONE thing that if I do it well will make everything else easier or not necessary?”

Answer that question, then focus like your life depends on it.

References and links mentioned

• My new ebook The Influencer Code
• https://equalman.com/the-focus-project/

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the Inside Influence Podcast! Please head over to iTunes, subscribe to the show, and leave an honest review. Also, don’t forget to hop on my website juliemasters.com and download my new ebook The Influencer Code or become an insider by signing up to my newsletter.

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We are coming to the end of another eventful year, another 12 month bundle of opportunities, challenges, plenty of highlights and some definite unforeseen low lights. Hopefully you are about to embark on a well-deserved break. This is exactly what the inside influence team and myself will be doing. So over the next few weeks we are going to be taking a festive step back to rest up, recalibrate and re-inspire ourselves for 2022. However, if you need some inspiration to get you thinking and planning for next year, we have you covered. Our holiday season of power cuts or power minis are back. Our final power cut episode is with Julia Dhar.

Julia Dhar is a Managing Director and Partner at the Boston Consulting Group and the founder of BeSmart, BCG's behavioral economics and behavioral insights initiative.

Julia's mission is to enable leaders in government and the private sector to apply the science of behavior change across a range of social services and topics, including economic development, finance, education, criminal justice and welfare.

Her two TED talks on how to have constructive conversations have had at last count over 10 million views. She was also world school debate champion three times.

So it’s safe to say she knows a fair amount about crafting a successful argument.

However, what drew me to Julia wasn’t her ability to persuade – although as you’ll hear she is very persuasive - but instead the vision she’s dedicated the rest of her life and career to driving – how as Nations, teams and families - we can start to disagree more productively.

In this conversation we dive into:

• The importance of respectful listening and how to construct the rules of respectful listening.
• Why every conversation should start with ‘shared reality’ – an idea or intention you can all agree upon.
• And finally... THE most beautiful and game changing question I have heard in a very long time - “What can you share that will help me see what you see?”

If you enjoy this powercut episode and would like to hear my full conversation with Julia Dhar please head over to my website juliemasters.com or listen at all the usual places #itunes #spotify #googleplay #stitcher.

For now sit back, relax and enjoy my powercut conversation with Julia Dhar.

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How influential is your personal network?

You know I love a multi-layered question and this one comes in two parts.

Firstly, how well does your current network, the current galaxy of people you orbit around (and who orbit around you) reflect the habits, influence, achievements you want to create?

Secondly – and here’s where it gets interesting – how much of an impact does your current network have on you and those around you. Including people who will never meet?

If there’s one thing that most researchers agree upon it's this: your level of influence is in direct correlation to who you are connected to.

Which is fine as a base line, however dig under the surface and it raises more questions than it answers.

How big does that network need to be? Who needs to be in it and – in a day and age where we all collect more connections than we know what to do with – what does connection even mean?

When I started diving into these questions, they all pointed me in one direction.

Today’s Guest

Jon Levy is a social researcher, best selling author, TED talker and (probably best known) founder of the Influencers Dinner—an exclusive dining experience created in 2009, which brings industry leaders ranging from Nobel laureates to Olympians, Emmy award winners, musician, politician and even members of the royal family - to celebrities together to cook and share a meal. In his words...

Levy shares his approach to making connections in his new best selling book, You’re Invited: The Art and Science of Cultivating Influence. The book breaks down his “Influence Equation”—how to build belonging and trust to create a high impact community.

Instagram and Twitter: @JonLevyTLB

You’ll Learn

• Why influence and behavior is contagious – including the influence our network has on everything from our results to our longevity..
• How the rituals within our communities and families become the cornerstones we orbit around - and the importance of consciously creating them..
• Finally, why everyone, especially those at the top of their game, feel like they don’t fit in – and how to create spaces for deep and powerful connections.

References and links mentioned

• Jon’s NY Times bestseller You're Invited: The Art & Science of Connection, Trust, and Belonging
• Jon’s TED Talk

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the Inside Influence Podcast! Please head over to iTunes, subscribe to the show and leave a review. Also, don’t forget to hop on my website juliemasters.com and download my new ebook The Influencer Code or become an insider by signing up to my newsletter.

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Have you ever felt invisible or inarticulate - especially when it comes to asking for what you want?

Given the sheer volume of books in bookstores right now on the subject of influence - how to get more, how to get people to do what you want, how to speak up. You could be forgiven for thinking that we are hopelessly lacking in power.

Yet, what if instead of a lack of knowledge, we actually have a lack of awareness about the real power of our words, actions and presence when it comes to influencing the actions of other people.

Basically, in the words of my guest today, what if we all have tons more influence than we think?

Whether attending a meeting, sharing a post online, or mustering up the nerve to ask for a pay rise, the research shows that we tend to assume that our actions and requests are going to be declined, or at least that we will have to convince, persuade, or metaphorically drag people across the line to join us.

The truth according to today’s guest could not be further from that. In fact the research that people are always TWICE as likely to agree to your request than you believe. Twice as likely!

Unless, of course, you loose the opportunity by not asking directly for what you want.

Today’s Guest

Vanessa Bohns is a social psychologist and professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, First company, list goes on. Her first book, You Have More Influence Than You Think, offers science based strategies for observing the effect we have on other people, reconsidering our fear of rejection, and even sometimes pulling back to use our influence less. It's I would say, essentially a call to stop searching for ways to gain influence, get more influence than you have, and to start recognizing the influence that you already have and get smarter about using it.

Instagram @profbohns

Twitter: @profbohns

You’ll Learn

• The distinction between consent and compliance - and why that’s essentially for using your influencing powers for good and not evil.
• Why people are predictably and reliably always twice as likely to say yes to your requests than you think they are.
• Why so many people say yes when they actually mean no - and how to tell the difference.
• Practical ways to ask for what you want that stack the odds of a yes even further in your favor.

What really stuck with me was how difficult we find the word no. Both saying it, but also creating the environments or relationships where we are likely to hear it.

How different would our lives be if we believed Vanessa's words that: "Saying no is a complete sentence."

What if the people around us knew that they could 100% trust our ‘yes’ because they could also 100% trust the clarity and the conviction of our ‘no’.

Subscribe to and Review the Inside Influence Podcast

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the Inside Influence Podcast! If the information in my conversations and interviews have helped you in your journey, please head over to iTunes, subscribe to the show, and leave an honest review. Your reviews and feedback will not only help us continue to deliver great, helpful content, but it will also help us reach even more amazing people just like you!

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Have you ever felt alone in seeing a problem?

That feeling, a little bit like the story of the Emperor's new clothes, where everyone else is applauding – but there’s an important truth that no one seems willing to speak.

That’s how my guest today felt, from a very young age, about one of the most influential ideas on the planet.

That one idea is capitalism.

According to the dictionary... Capitalism is defined as “an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit”

Since the birth of the capitalism, approximately 200 years ago, the world’s population living in ‘extreme poverty’ has dropped from 94% to 9.6%.

Yet, what also comes with that idea – the flip side to the capitalist coin – has been argued to be unchecked greed and the treatment of people and the planet as ‘assets’ to be bought and then discarded.

To put it lightly – it’s a pretty powerful idea.

Ray Sisodia was a young man growing up in India when he first came across the impact of capitalism - and to the conclusion that there had to be a better way of doing business than just surviving to chase money.

THAT idea is Conscious Capitalism.

Today’s Guest

Raj Sisodia is a founding member of the worldwide Conscious Capitalism movement, FW Olin Distinguished Professor of Global Business and Whole Foods Market Research Scholar in Conscious Capitalism at Babson College.

He has written eleven award-winning books, including Firms of Endearment, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-seller Conscious Capitalism, Everybody Matters and his latest book ‘The Healing Organization: Awakening the Conscience of Business to Help Save the World’.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajendrasisodia/

Twitter: @RajSisodiaCC

You’ll Learn

• The role of the Healing Leader post-COVID
• Why part of moving forward consciously involves firstly going backwards.
• Why capitalism can still be the greatest idea we’ve ever had and what needs to change in order to move forward.
• Raj’s own journey of influence, what he’s learned about creating and sustaining a global movement.

On a personal note, this conversation honestly went NOWHERE I expected.

I arrived with two pages of questions about the future of capitalism and left with a deep appreciation for the humility, grace, and courage of Raj himself.

You know, in any journey of influence you are going to face your words head-on. If you teach patience, you will hit the places where you have none. If you teach courage, you’ll find those moments when yours disappears. If you talk about healing organisations, eventually you’ll need to face a healing journey of your own.

Raj is a human being that has had the courage to do both. The courage to drive the new ideas and stories that move the world forward and the courage to re-examine the old ideas and stories holding him back. That’s real influence.

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the Inside Influence Podcast! If the information has helped you please subscribe to the show, and leave a review. Also, don’t forget to hop on my website juliemasters.com and download my new ebook The Influencer Code or become an insider by signing up to my newsletter.

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