In an insightful episode, Alice welcomed influence expert Matt Brown to explore how CEOs can leverage their influence for meaningful change. Having founded 14 companies and hosted over 850 podcast episodes, Brown shared his profound insights on leveraging influence to drive positive change within and beyond your organization.

The True Essence of Influence

"Influence is the current and future currency of business leadership," Matt Brown said, challenging the term's misconceptions. Unlike influencer marketing, which often lacks authenticity, Brown emphasized that genuine influence is about elevating others, not yourself. Your influence should aim to build better teams, enhance business operations, and scale brand presence in ethically responsible ways.

Navigating the Digital Influence Landscape

Social media has transformed how CEOs can use influence to create change and excel in business. Brown highlighted the importance of creating a credible digital presence, describing it as a collection of "credibility signals" that potential clients, partners, and top talent seek when evaluating a leader's trustworthiness.

Thought Leadership’s Impact:

Brown delved into true thought leadership, urging CEOs to share non-obvious, evidence-based insights. "True thought leadership is where you paint a nonobvious, evidence-based view on a problem," he explained, encouraging leaders to solve real-world problems and share those solutions to establish authority and influence in their industries.

Key Takeaways for CEOs

Start with Authenticity: Influence should be ethical and authentic; focus on uplifting others, not self-promotion.
Leverage Thought Leadership: Share unique, evidence-based insights on relevant topics to assert authority and foster trust within your industry.
Take Action and Improve: Brown's parting advice to CEOs is straightforward yet powerful: "Choose to start today." Whether writing a book, starting a podcast, or enhancing internal communications, the key is to take decisive action and continuously strive to improve.

Start Today

Matt's parting message is clear: "Choose to start today." Whether it's enhancing digital presence, sharing thought leadership, or improving internal communications, the key is taking action.

Discover how to harness the power of influence to drive positive change within your organization and beyond; watch the full episode below, and don’t forget to hit that subscribe button!

Chapters

0:03:26 Definition of influence and the difference between positive and negative influence

0:09:57 The impact of digital influence on sales and trust

0:12:57 The importance of using assets as a CEO to influence prospects and employees

0:13:50 The significance of internal communication in maintaining a strong company culture

0:16:00 The value of telling the company's story internally and externally

0:18:42 The impact of onboarding and internal communication on driving culture

0:21:11 Additional strategies for CEOs to improve their digital influence

0:25:25 The significance of solving a problem and offering proof to influence others

0:26:26 Utilizing podcasts and writing a book to increase influence

0:28:46 Focus on doing things more and better

About Guest

Matt Brown is a veteran founder and entrepreneur zealously dedicated to aiding, entrepreneurs, CEOs, business leaders and the broader business community in fostering positive change. A veteran founder of 14 companies across a span of 25 years, successfully exiting multiple businesses.

In the limelight as the host of the globally celebrated Matt Brown Show, Matt has steered over 850 episodes to success, making it a powerhouse of insights with millions of downloads. Recognized for his superpower of compelling business leaders to revea

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