Inside Influence

What makes you who you are?  I know that’s a huge, complex question. However, if you think about it – there would have been a few pivotal moments, relationships and possibly conversations that set you on the path you’re on today. Beyond the path, those moments would have also laid the wiring for how you now react, decide and decode the world around you. Laying the foundations for how you show...

When you hear the word ‘power’, what first springs to mind?  Do you immediately think of its absence, the moments you felt ‘power-less’ – or the moments you showed up as the fullest version of yourself? Is ‘power’ a word or sensation that feels like it belongs to you? Or is it a word that usually belongs to someone else? My guest today wants to redefine how we think, approach and own the word...

Hands up who’s busy? Busy with work, life, kids, family, businesses, side hustles, resting (now when did that become a task) and everything in between.  The reason many of us are so busy, constantly moving and thinking at 100mph is I believe, in its most positive sense, because we want to get it right.  We want to be the best we can be in every aspect of our life. Maybe that’s achieving...

Do you struggle to immerse yourself in something (anything) without a buzz, ding or vibration pulling you out of your train of thought?  If we struggle to pay attention to even the things we care about - how as influencers, leaders and communicators - can we cut through long enough to create real and lasting impact. Today’s Guest  Paul Zak is a neuroscientist, public speaker and author w...

Would you consider yourself to be stubborn? Do you bristle at the thought of change and dig your heels in even when presented with undeniable logic?  For most of us our instinct is to probably answer ‘no’ to that question. It’s everyone else that’s stubborn right?  It’s the people on the internet who are blatantly wrong in their points of view. The family member who won’t shift position,...

How do you feel about the word ‘bragging’?  Does it make you squirm and immediately want to bolt away from the spotlight – or excited about an opportunity to share your success? When a colleague, friend or co-worker starts to say things that sound like bragging - does it rub you up the wrong way? Or do you start feeling inspired and curious about how you could get similar results?  My gu...

Do you have an Alter Ego? A side of yourself, with a whole different set of traits and strengths, that you can quickly access to give yourself the edge? Usually when we hear the term ‘Alter Ego’ we think of Peter Parker and Spider Man, Diana Prince and Wonder Woman, Clarke Kent and Superman. The list goes on.  However, what if I told you that some of the greatest performers and influential fi...

As the Inside Influence Team and I take a short break to refuel our collective batteries over Summer - or Winter depending on where you are in the world - we’ve got you covered. For the month of August we will be releasing a weekly ‘PowerCut’ of our favorite (and your favorite) podcast episodes from the past year.  These are short powerhouse episodes, to keep you fuelled and showing up at the...

As the Inside Influence Team and I take a short break to refuel our collective batteries over Summer - or Winter depending on where you are in the world - we’ve got you covered. For the month of August we will be releasing a weekly ‘PowerCut’ of our favorite (and your favorite) podcast episodes from the past year.  These are short powerhouse episodes, to keep you fuelled and showing up at the...

As the Inside Influence Team and I take a short break to refuel our collective batteries over Summer - or Winter depending on where you are in the world - we’ve got you covered. For the month of August we will be releasing a weekly ‘PowerCut’ of our favorite (and your favorite) podcast episodes from the past year.  These are short powerhouse episodes, to keep you fuelled and showing up at the...

As the Inside Influence Team and I take a short break to refuel our collective batteries over Summer - or Winter depending on where you are in the world - we’ve got you covered. For the month of August we will be releasing a weekly power cut of our favorite (and your favorite) podcast episodes. A short powerhouse version containing some of our favorite moments. To keep you fuelled and showing up a...

Are you pitch perfect?  We all understand the power of the ‘pitch’ – whether it’s for investment, a new career defining opportunity or that game changing client. These are the 7 to 14 minute long ‘sliding door’ moments that define whether we take our influence to the next level. However, once you’ve done the hard work of getting the right people in the room, how do you make every second count...

Today’s question is the holy grail of influence.  It’s the question that any influencer that wants to make an impact with their words, ideas or mission strives to answer:  How do you tell stories that change the way the world works ?  My guest today has built his career around answering this question - and still sits at the coal face, mining away at the ever-evolving answer. Today’s...

How do you communicate from a place of stillness and calm regardless of what’s happening around you? We all know the situations that tend to set off our body’s alarm system. It could be a fight with our partner, the same old conversation with a member of our team - or getting up in front of a room full of people to speak or make our ideas heard. Regardless of the situation – the warning signals te...

What does it take to own your voice when everything is on the line - and the entire world is watching? Today’s Guest  On the podcast today I speak with Gretchen Carlson, New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and internationally recognized trailblazer for women’s rights in the workplace.  In June of 2016, two years before the beginning of the #metoo movement - Gretchen boldly went p...

Have you ever heard a song while you’re in a bar, at a restaurant, out shopping, or watching TV and wondered: “What is the name of that song?”  Although you may not have heard of my guest today, I can almost guarantee you’ve heard of his product. Over 2 billion people have downloaded it, 8 million new users every month use it (without a dollar of marketing) and in 2017 Apple bought...

Which of these has more influence over your day. Your priorities, focus and close relationships – or the demands and temptations of your digital device? Maybe it’s a hard question to answer, maybe it’s easy. Maybe you like the answer, maybe you don’t. Either way, if influence requires focus, then how we handle the ongoing ‘creep’ of the digital world into our lives becomes one of the most importan...

What makes a powerful storyteller? Those able to tell a story that - whether it’s from a porch, a stage, a bar or an auditorium - can literally change the fabric of the air around you.  Those able to, from their first breath, plunge us into a world completely different from our own. Yet still offer a roadmap we can use to solve our own challenges. Those able to literally change the way we vie...

Why is developing a ‘puzzle mindset’ the key to influence? A few years ago, I developed a bit of an obsession. It started out as innocent and then became an addiction that, like all addictions, began to expand into more and more corners of my life. That obsession was with the world of puzzling. Sudoku, crosswords, train tracks, word finders. You name it I had to solve it. Perhaps it was a reaction...

How do we become powerful listeners? Listening is probably one of the most underestimated tools of influence. Think for a moment about the leaders that have had the most impact on you. The people who have changed your mind or perspective. Those who made you feel heard and therefore valued in every single interaction. I guarantee you they would have mastered the art of profound listening. Today’s G...

What’s the future of storytelling? Before you try to answer this question, consider these facts. Al software can now generate video content on demand – in one year's time you will be able to generate an entire movie based on a few simple lines of text. Short story platforms (Tik Tok, Snapchat, Instagram) have now hit staggering views of 30 billion views a day. At the same time in 2021 the streamer...

What holds you back from having the influence you want? Quickly listen to the first thing that comes into your mind.  It might have been a sense that somehow you’re not charismatic enough, or not aggressive enough – or maybe the opposite. You talk too much and forget to listen or emotionally engage. So if we have a clear idea on the blocks that are holding back from the influence we know we’r...

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 impa...

How do you feel about the word negotiation? When most people hear the term negotiation, they usually think of tense conversations, fighting for what you deserve and a battlefield mindset.  Yet what if that whole concept – that of thinking about negotiation as a form of combat – meant you never actually get what you want?  What if treating it as a zero sum game, with one winner and one lo...

Now, here's today's question. If you had to pick the most pivotal 10 days of your career, what would they be?  Ten days that, either looking back or in the moment, felt like everything had been leading you to this point. Perhaps it was the lead-up to a landmark decision, a moment in the spotlight to either make an impact or publicly fall short, or a crisis you could have never foreseen. These...