In today’s episode, we cover influence with Professor Vanessa Bohns. Vanessa is a social psychologist, an award-winning researcher and teacher, and a professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University.

We all have the ability to influence those around us to some degree, so what can you do to understand your influence, grow your influence, and use your influence to help you achieve your goals?

What to Listen For

Intro and Vanessa’s origin story – 0:00

What do many of us get wrong about our influence over others, the perception others have of us, and how much other people actually like us?
Why do we always feel like everyone is watching when we feel embarrassed?
What is the spotlight effect?

How to start recognizing your influence – 13:34
What can you do to overcome the limiting beliefs you might have about how much influence you actually have?
What can you do as an introvert to feel confident and comfortable in situations where you know it’s going to be uncomfortable?

Being more genuine during the chaos of cancel culture – 24:30
What can we do to be more comfortable being genuine when people are scared to say the wrong thing?

What can we do to counter those who want to use their power and influence against us if we are trying to be more open and trusting of others?

What can you do to overcome your fear of rejection?

Learning to say no – 36:16
How do you learn to say no to someone who is in a position of power or authority over you?

Our common misconceptions about influence – 44:25
Why and how do we underestimate the compounding effect of our individual influence outside of the people we interact with directly?

How do we view our influence compared to how our influence actually works on people around us?

We often underestimate the impact we have on the people around us because of our misconceptions about how influence works. We get caught up in thinking influence is our ability to directly influence a person’s actions with our words, but in reality we influence the people around us in small amounts over extended periods of time.

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Resources from this Episode

You Have More Influence Than You Think by Vanessa Bohns

Vannesa Bohns’s website

Vanessa Bohns on Twitter

The invisibility cloak illusion: People (incorrectly) believe they observe others more than others observe them

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