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.

What is “conation?” According to seasoned marketing and strategy leader Sandeep Dayal, conation is incredibly important in the marketing world. It refers to the desire or will of people to perform an action – it helps marketers assess what causes a customer to opt-in or out of a buying decision.

Notes & Resources: https://www.rogerdooley.com/sandeep-dayal-branding/

Sandeep Dayal joins Brainfluence to explain purchase decisions, brand identity, brand positioning, customer-centricity, and customer experience for brands that want to find and sell to their audiences ethically. He breaks down the process of a customer’s buying decision, the three factors that affect the designing of empathetic brands, and the three principles of self-regulation for marketers, among other things.

Recognition of the need to optimize customer experience continues to grow. As Sandeep explains, the better a customer’s mind is familiar with your brand’s offerings, the better the chances are they would buy from you. Make an effort to get to know your customer – understand their pain points, questions, and concerns, and align your marketing strategy to find them the answers to their most persistent questions.

Businesses today face the challenge of balancing their core values with the realities of the digital age — an age that has customers expect 24/7 access to brands. Surprisingly, the brands that put their customers first have survived even the worst phases of the pandemic, according to best-selling author and returning guest on Brainfluence, John Jantsch.
Notes & Resources: https://www.rogerdooley.com/john-jantsch-engine/

John advocates customer-centric marketing and brings us lessons from his most recent book, The Ultimate Marketing Engine: 5 Steps to Ridiculously Consistent Growth. He talks about the importance of focusing less on generating “more” leads. Rather, you should enhance the buying experience of your existing customers to generate organic referrals and leads. He explains how strategically (and authentically) partnering with your top 20% customers does your business more good than investing in lead generation. John also reveals his 5-step marketing process that helps discover and map businesses to their ideal customers.

Consistent business growth in today’s times depends almost entirely on the quality of customer experience offered. Improve it and your customers will take your business to the next level before you  know it. Tune in to the conversation to learn more!

Dorie Clark joins us today on Brainfluence discuss her new book, The Long Game and  to explain why a long-term strategy is essential to help us achieve our goals in life. In this era of instant gratification, it’s hard to wait until a business strategy works or the results of practice start showing results. But, Dorie notes, success is a product of long-term consistency for example, a one-percentage daily improvement (as James Clear explained in Atomic Habits). This approach requires you avoid frequent changes. Rather, you must keep going and stick to a strategy that works for you.

Creating mental space is essential on your path to success. If you stuff all your hours with work, not heeding the long-term implications of constant jam-packed days, you will never know if you’re heading where you want to.

Listen to today’s conversation as Dorie and Roger discuss many more topics, including why you must create room for whitespace in your calendar and how to do that even if you don’t have schedule flexibility.
Show page with video and text versions, resources, etc.: https://www.rogerdooley.com/dorie-clark-long-game/

Dan Pink explores a new and surprising topic: Regret. We all have regrets, and usually we think of regret as something to avoid. Not so, says Dan. He explains how regret can be a positive force, the four categories of regret, and more.

Show notes: https://www.rogerdooley.com/dan-pink-regret/

Video: https://youtu.be/Gx32A_c5Pyk