25. Innovation and Hype 2.0 with Michael F. Schein

“Just because an idea's not original doesn't mean it's not effective.” - Michael F. Schein Welcome to Innovation Meets Leadership! I’m your host, Natalie Born. In this episode, we are catching up with Micahel F. Schein. Michael is the founder and president of MicroFame Media, a company that specializes in making consultants and coaches famous in their fields. Some of his clients have included eBay, Magento, The Medici Group, University of Pennsylvania, Gordon College, University of California Irvine, United Methodist Publishing House, Ricoh, LinkedIn, and Citrix. His writing has appeared in Fortune, Forbes, Inc., Psychology Today, and Huffington Post, and he is a speaker for international audiences spanning from the northeastern United States to the southeastern coast of China. His book The Hype Handbook: 12 Indispensable Success Secrets From the World’s Greatest Propagandists, Self-Promoters, Cult Leaders, Mischief Makers, and Boundary Breakers, published by McGraw Hill, appears where books are sold. [00:16] Building a Secret Society Michael explains why the word hype has had negative connotations over time Why Secret Society: The notion that hype artists are incredibly effective at making it look like all of their success comes from the bottom up but actually rely on individuals doing work below the surface Why the point of the secrecy is the secrecy Why it’s the exclusivity that makes it special and fun [13:31] Applying The Idea of a Secret Society to Our Business How can you bring ritual and exclusivity into what you're doing Why we should look to places outside your industry Why we should have a very experimental mindset [22:50] What is Core to Innovation Emphasizing what you're calling the innovation component Why everything is innovation How to be comfortable with innovation [25:23] Closing Segment Final thoughts from Michael Connect with Michael! Key Quotes: “If you create something that people would do anyway because it's an adventure. Business gets done as a side effect.” - Michael F. Schein “So the trick is to base your stuff on psychological principles that work, but even more importantly, conduct very small experiments that just give you the data you need to know if you should go bigger and kill the losers very, very quickly.” - Michael F. Schein Connect with Michael Website: https://www.hypereads.com/list LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelfrancisschein/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelSchein1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michael.schein.7