Editor and publishing strategist AJ Harper discusses the importance of understanding readers as characters in non-fiction writing, emphasizing transformational core messages. She shares insights on developmental editing, ghostwriting, and the writer's journey, providing valuable tips for aspiring authors. Harper's expertise shines through as she delves into enhancing reader engagement and maintaining clarity in writing style.

Tom Peters is an author and legendary business thinker who has written 19 books. His new title is Tom Peters' Compact Guide to Excellence. It's a small book packed with short bites of wisdom curated by Tom to encourage a humanistic approach to business. In this episode, he explains why the most important decisions in business are promotions, and that often managers don't spend enough time on them or know how to do them correctly. He shares a technique for choosing the best candidate he learned in a conversation with an Indian general. The entire episode is packed with Tom's plain-spoken, hard-hitting wisdom. You'll learn why a company's front-line managers are the most important group in the firm. He explains why big companies rarely do things right, and that mid-sized companies are often the most valuable contributors to society and the economy. Show notes, resources, text and video: https://www.rogerdooley.com/tom-peters-compact-excellence/ 

In business, we have a bias for busyness. Doing something is always better than doing nothing, to most of us. Indeed, Brainfluence guest and management expert Tom Peters famously proclaimed "a bias for action" to be a key component of excellence. But, is it possible that doing nothing could sometimes be the best strategy? In today's episode, we welcome Jinny Uppal, who has studied the science of action-taking and discovered that constantly being busy can be counter-productive. Jinny has compiled her research into a book called IN/ACTION: Rethinking the Path to Results, in which she argues that taking breaks and being mindful can lead to more sustainable growth than constantly striving for progress. As a business consultant, investor, author, and speaker, Jinny now helps others achieve their goals without burning out. In this conversation, Jinny shares her own experience of shedding the busyness bias and embracing a more strategic approach to success, and explains the science behind the action bias and how we can motivate ourselves to overcome it.

Can you be authentically charismatic? Renowned behavioral investigator Vanessa Van Edwards has always been fascinated by the 'science of people'. A (famously) socially awkward person, Vanessa's first book Captivate, covered the problems we face in communicating with other people and provided science-backed ways to overcome them. Now with her new book, Cues: Master the Secret Language of Charismatic Communication , Vanessa helps us level up our communication skills by revealing the secrets behind charismatic communication. Show notes and resources: https://www.rogerdooley.com/vanessa-van-edwards-cues/    In today's episode of Brainfluence, Vanessa uncovers the two things that create charismatic personalities – warmth and competence. Competence cues involve the numbers, data, awards, certifications, or degrees that validate your knowledge. Warmth cues involve personal stories, anecdotes, case studies, gifts, funny videos, or the like that add trust, reliability, friendliness, and fondness to your persona. The balance between the two is a joy for our brains. Vanessa discusses the cues to use and the cues to avoid in our communication. Going in-depth about the four primary cues – words, body language, vocal factors, and imagery, she explains how to employ them in speeches and meetings. She also explains how our communication cues have changed since the pandemic began and how to express ourselves effectively despite these changes.

The last time Eric Barker, we spoke about his book, 'Barking Up The Wrong Tree', the Wall Street Journal best-seller that taught us a science-based approach to success. Next, his brand new book called Plays Well With Others, is an invaluable guide that will help you achieve everything you want with your relationships – either by making them work, or helping you fail spectacularly! https://www.rogerdooley.com/eric-barker-plays-well/ Eric Barker uses science and research to explain how our brain understands and makes impressions of people. He gets into everything that wrongly influences our assessment of people, including confirmation bias from first impressions and, believe it or not, criminal profiling. Eric explains how instead to learn about people using values of empathy, similarity, trust, and emotion. He adds that the best way to understand someone is to make them feel connected and comfortable around you. Introducing a little bit of emotion and controversy in conversations, rather than playing safe, helps you understand people many times better because it makes discussions more enjoyable.

For decades, market research consisted mostly of surveys and focus groups. Now we have a host of new tools to track our audiences – what they see, what they read, what they think and how they feel. Today's episode of Brainfluence features neuroscience-based marketing expert Benny Briesemeister. Show notes, links, resources, video & text versions: https://www.rogerdooley.com/benny-briesemeister-neuromarketing/ Benny discusses the science, evolution, growth, scope, and future of neuromarketing. He gets into the details of the most powerful neuromarketing technique, fMRI, its cost concerns, and how the marketing sector can better utilize it. Neuromarketing offers marketers the advantage of understanding the non-conscious drivers of human behavior and decision-making. To get a clearer picture of the transformative power of neuromarketing for business, tune in to this episode. [0:00] Intro [01:17] Large corporations use neuromarketing to increase sales. [03:40] Academic acceptance of neuromarketing [05:46] Deloitte gets into consumer neuroscience [07:09] Behavioral data vs. Market research data [10:12] How neuroscience is revolutionizing marketing [12:05] Using GSR - Galvanic Skin Response [12:25] Neuromarketing helps segment customers [15:29] Three basic types of motivation [21:53] FMRI - advantages and disadvantages [24:06] Cost concerns of fMRI [27:18] Using smartphones, smartwatches, fitness trackers, etc. for neuromarketing

Choice architecture, the way choices are presented to people, is often overlooked as an important influence on both big and small decisions. One of the world's most recognized researchers on decision-making, Eric Johnson, has studied choice architecture and its effects on behavior. Understanding how we make choices and improving their presentation helps us design better processes for many important situations. We are all choice architects, Eric says. Show Notes, Transcript, Resources: https://www.rogerdooley.com/eric-johnson-choice/ Book: https://amzn.to/3Jp7abM  Eric joins Brainfluence to dissect our roles as choice architects and explain how to change our choice architectures to arrive at better decisions. A well-designed choice architecture helps you to look beyond the easiest and most accessible paths or memory-based preferences. Eric also explains how default choices are formed, the 3 E's that make them, and how to not be blinded by them. You'll learn about how choice architecture applies to our most basic decisions in life, including choosing a dress to wear or voting for a political party. You'll also learn to make better decisions when faced with an overwhelming number of options. In a nutshell, you'll understand that the clearer you can see your choices, the better your decision-making becomes.

Learn about conation and its importance in marketing, cognitive branding for establishing connections with consumers, the impact of emotional ads by Google, engaging brand experiences and sensory branding, and ethical considerations in neuromarketing.

Best-selling author and returning guest on Brainfluence, John Jantsch, discusses the importance of customer-centric marketing and enhancing the buying experience of existing customers to generate organic referrals and leads. He reveals his 5-step marketing process that helps businesses map themselves to ideal customers. Improving the quality of customer experience is crucial for consistent business growth.