Zoe Chance on Influence

Zoe Chance is an award-winning teacher and researcher at Yale School of Management. Her research has been published in top academic journals like Proceedings of the National Academy of Science and Psychological Science, and covered by the Harvard Business Review, The Economist, BBC, Time, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and The New York Times. Thinkers50 named Zoe one of the world's top up-and-coming management thinkers. Her framework for behavior change is the foundation for Google’s global food policy, and her TEDx talk, How to Make a Behavior Addictive, has more than half a million views. Before coming to Yale, she earned a doctorate in marketing at Harvard and managed a $200 million segment of the Barbie brand at Mattel. She lives with her family in New Haven, CT. Zoe had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “So much of our ability to influence and persuade other human beings is a direct result of the level of connection that they feel with us. And that level of connection comes from how authentic we are with them in that moment” (6:50). “Curiosity is something that can only happen in the immediate, present moment” (7:05). “Being imperfect and human makes other people like us” (12:10). “Charisma is a combination of confidence and connection. The way to do both of those at once is by focusing your attention on the other person” (13:10). “How can you have that ability to make the other person feel special?” (16:00). “Ask more questions” (17:55). “I love shifting away from anytime we’re saying, ‘you should.’ This is a phrase that sparks immediate resistance from the other person’s unconscious” (20:40). “It’s not that we shouldn’t talk about ourselves, but that we could all do a lot less of it and be better liked. People like us more when we ask them questions. And they like us even more when we ask them follow-up questions” (24:30). “If we end up going to some place highly personal and vulnerable, then we really need you, as the question asker, to share some personal, vulnerable stuff (26:50). “Every person should have to have a sales job at some point in their life… You learn to face rejection, live through it, and build resilience” (36:35). “All you need to know about life is that every person you meet, find something that you like about them” (43:50). “It’s about them, [the students], it’s not about me” (47:50). “My standards for myself have gone down so much, that I’ve lost this desire for perfectionism from any of us” (48:30). “We’re just human beings. Try to serve and enjoy each other” (46:45). “In a meeting, we should definitely have an agenda, but not a script” (52:35). “Anyone who doesn’t have a real boss needs to have a coach” (59:20). Additionally, make sure to connect with Zoe on Twitter and LinkedIn. I would also greatly encourage you to check out Zoe’s website and to purchase her new book, Influence is your Superpower. Thank you so much to Zoe for coming on the podcast! I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening. -Brian