136: The Influencer's Secret Playbook

<p>Don’t think of a pink elephant.  Did you think of one when you read that sentence?  It shows how easily we can we swayed by images.  If I had said don’t think of the letters p-i-n-k-e-l-e-p-h-a-n-t, you would have been fabulously successful.  What is the difference – both refer to the same prohibition?  We are very much susceptible to images, yet we rarely use this facility when we are trying to have influence with those around us.</p> <p> </p> <p>We think that force of will, desire, status, oratory, personal power, connections or wealth is how we can have influence with others.  In various circumstances, some of these will work, but most are out of reach to the ordinary punter.  What else can we do?  Well we can “pink elephant” our way to greatness.  We can incorporate images into our conversations to persuade others to follow our recommendations.</p> <p> </p> <p>Getting others to follow our ideas is how we have influence and we have all heard that storytelling is a powerful vehicle for explaining recommendations to others.  Like with joke telling though, most of us are pretty average at these skill sets.  It sounds easy enough – just tell the joke and people laugh, tell the story and people will get in line behind you.  Well we know that few are any good at telling jokes or stories. That is mainly down to a total lack of planning. </p> <p> </p> <p>Professional comedians spend an enormous amount of time working on their content and then perfecting the timing and mastery of the delivery.  If you ever watch Japanese rakugo comedians for example, you can really understand the work that goes into this line of enterprise.  They sit on a cushion, usually hold a fan in their hand and that is it.  Everything else is down to what they say and how they say it.  They create multiple characters, locations, situations and dialogue out of thin air.</p> <p> </p> <p>On our own part, we normally spend zero time working on our ability to have influence.  We don’t craft our story content, nor do we practice the delivery over an