Influence Anyone

Every leader, parent, and consultant runs into the same wall: resistance. Someone pushes back on an idea or a change, and the instinct is to push harder. Travis Hahler, who has led transformation work inside Google and Salesforce and worked with over 100 organizations, says that instinct is exactly backwards.
In this conversation, Howie Chan sits down with Travis to unpack why the human brain treats change as a threat before it treats it as an opportunity. Travis breaks down the six neurological barriers behind every no, from routine and ambiguity to loss and exclusion, and explains why treating resistance as a personal attack only makes it worse.
You'll learn why leaders who spin their message trigger more resistance, how to influence people who outrank you using data, why "no" can actually be a doorway instead of a dead end, and how to apply this same framework to your own resistance to change.
Chapters:
00:00:00 Why We Resist Change
00:04:33 The Spin Trap Leaders Fall Into
00:06:59 Cultural Differences to Change
00:09:54 The 6 Neurological Barriers to Change
00:15:14 Why Resistance Isn't Personal
00:18:15 Change in Action: Getting People to Attend Events
00:22:10 How Coaches Can Help Participants Be Successful
00:28:05 Influencing Up Without Authority
00:33:59 Using "No" as a Way In
00:39:01 How to Change Your Own Behaviors
00:45:39 Peaks & Pitfalls from 100+ Organizations
00:50:47 Say This, Not That (Quick Fire)
00:52:51 Final Advice: Get Curious, Not Combative
From Travis Hahler:
Website (https://travishahler.com/)
LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/travisdhahler/)
Book (https://travishahler.com/book/)
Mentioned in this episode:
Owen Fitzpatrick’s episode: How To Create Any Reality (The Belief Blueprint) (https://www.howiechan.com/podcast) (Aug 4)
Your Expertise Deserves to Be Known
The Behavioring Lab is a new community for experienced professionals who want to build a professional brand that gets them known, trusted, and chosen by the right people.
→ http://behavioringlab.com/
Join the founding member waitlist.
—
Produced by Ideablossoms (https://ideablossoms.com/)

Confidence, according to one of the world’s leading voice coaches, Caroline Goyder, comes from shutting your mouth. It's a strange claim from someone who has spent her career teaching leaders how to command a room, but she has the science, the client stories, and the physiology to back it up.

Howie Chan sits down with Caroline, author of Gravitas and Find Your Voice, to unpack why competence alone rarely earns anyone's attention, and why the stillest, most breath-regulated person in a meeting is usually the one people trust most. They get into the physiology of speech, the nervous system science behind stage fright, and the difference between a voice that comes from the head, the heart, and the gut. Caroline also walks through a live grounding exercise built around breath control.

You'll learn how to project your voice without shouting, why rehearsed spontaneity beats scripted perfection, how the Gravitas Equation predicts who commands a room, and how to build a transforming insight that makes any talk unforgettable.

Chapters:

00:00:00 The Paradox of the Out Breath
00:02:45 Becoming a Magnet in the Room
00:07:04 Rehearsed Spontaneity
00:11:54 The Pratfall Effect
00:13:56 How to Get People to Pay Attention to You
00:17:23 Head Voice, Heart Voice, Gut Voice
00:22:06 A Live Grounding Exercise
00:30:01 The Gravitas Equation
00:35:51 Reframing Anxiety
00:41:09 Building a Transforming Insight
00:44:49 Meetings, Pitches, and Disengaged Rooms
00:54:24 Stillness Is Power

From Caroline Goyder:

Website (https://carolinegoyder.com/)
LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinegoyder/)
Books (https://carolinegoyder.com/books/)

Mentioned in this episode:

Dr. Carmen Simon’s episode: B2B or B2C: The Only 10% That Matters in Marketing & Sales (https://www.howiechan.com/podcast) (June 23)

Your Expertise Deserves to Be Known

The Behavioring Lab is a new community for experienced professionals who want to build a professional brand that gets them known, trusted, and chosen by the right people.

→ http://behavioringlab.com/

Join the founding member waitlist.

—

Produced by Ideablossoms (https://ideablossoms.com/)

Despite what many people think, going viral is NOT luck. According to Michael Schein, author of The Hype Handbook, it's a formula, and it starts with picking a fight, not with a person, but with an idea everyone else has agreed to accept without question.
In this conversation, Howie Chan sits down with Michael to unpack how he turned himself from a broke, forgettable marketing copywriter into an in-demand ghostwriter and hype strategist, using the same psychological principles that built cult followings, packed stadiums, and turned unknown authors into household names. He explains why the advice to niche down is usually wrong, why almost every credible expert eventually needs a Bible, a foundational book that gives followers something to rally around, and why the fastest way to build an audience is to strategically borrow someone else's.
You'll learn why picking the right fight matters more than being liked, how to find a hyper-specific niche instead of a generic one, what separates a ‘Bible’ from an ordinary business book, and how to build a secret society of powerful connections.
Chapters:
00:00:00 Why Opposition Builds a Tribe Faster Than Merit
00:08:36 The Alice Cooper Billboard That Broke London
00:11:43 Picking a Fight with an Idea, Not a Person
00:15:28 How to Dig Past the Generic Answer
00:17:19 The Niche Myth
00:22:53 Life After Writing the ‘Bible’
00:26:45 A Regular Business Book Versus a ‘Bible’
00:30:19 When Hype Goes Too Far
00:32:09 Build a Secret Society
00:41:19 Should You Write a Book?
00:43:42 Self-Publishing Versus Traditional Publishing
00:51:42 Final Advice: Own What You're Against
From Michael Schein:
Website (https://michaelfschein.com/)
LinkedIn (http://linkedin.com/in/michaelfrancisschein)
Book (https://michaelfschein.com/the-hype-handbook/)
Mentioned in this episode:
How to Ask for What You Want: The Skill Mark V Hansen Used to Sell 500M Books (after 144 rejections) (https://www.howiechan.com/podcast) (August 18)
Your Expertise Deserves to Be Known
The Behavioring Lab is a new community for experienced professionals who want to build a professional brand that gets them known, trusted, and chosen by the right people.
→ http://behavioringlab.com/
Join the founding member waitlist.
—
Produced by Ideablossoms (https://ideablossoms.com/)

Most professionals think branding starts with picking the right customer. Howie Chan says that’s the wrong question to ask.

In this solo episode, Howie breaks down the positioning framework he uses to build some of the world's biggest brands, translated for executives, founders, and professionals who want to be remembered instead of overlooked. He explains why a brand is not a logo or a tagline but a memory sitting in someone else's mind, and why trying to serve everyone leaves that memory blank.

You'll learn how to plot your brand on the relevance and difference matrix, why trigger-first targeting beats picking a persona or title, how to map your direct, indirect, and alternative competition, and how to build a star anchor that sticks through point of view, repetition, and expression across visual, verbal, and experiential touchpoints.

Chapters:

00:00:00 What Brand Actually Means
00:03:25 The Relevance vs Difference Matrix
00:05:54 The Trigger First Strategy
00:10:11 Finding Your Difference
00:14:24 Expression: Point of View and Memorable Idea
00:18:09 Visual, Verbal, Experiential Branding

Mentioned in this video:

Neuroscientist: “Attention spans are NOT shorter” (7 tactics that get anyone’s attention) (July 28)

Your Expertise Deserves to Be Known

The Behavioring Lab is a new community for experienced professionals who want to build a professional brand that gets them known, trusted, and chosen by the right people.

→ http://behavioringlab.com/

Join the founding member waitlist.

—

Produced by Ideablossoms

Most people think building a community means throwing up a Circle page or a Slack channel and waiting for people to show up. Sophie Cross, founder of Freelancer Magazine, built an 800-member paid community without a single group chat, and she tells Howie Chan why that absence was intentional.
In this conversation, Sophie shares how she launched her print magazine for freelancers through a fast, high momentum Kickstarter campaign, the psychological tricks she used to push past fear before hitting publish, and the real difference between a community that talks at people and one that connects people to each other.
You'll learn why speed can beat perfect planning, how to build a community around an outcome instead of an existing identity, why virtual co-working sessions keep freelancers accountable without adding more noise to their inbox, and what Sophie considers the most overlooked skill in growing a business around real human connection.
Chapters:
00:00:00 How Purple Cow Sparked Freelancer Magazine
00:06:21 Fear, Momentum, and the Courage to Launch
00:11:40 The Kickstarter Playbook: Pre-Launch and Testing Fast
00:18:43 Lessons for Building a Community
00:22:43 Building Community Without a Built-In Identity
00:27:19 Meeting People Where They Are (Howie's Community Test)
00:36:21 The Unspoken Realities of Leading a Community
00:39:15 Monetizing Community: Pricing, Team and Growth
00:42:50 Trust and the Small Things That Build Connection
00:46:56 Inside Virtual Co-Working
00:50:16 Final Advice: Surround Yourself with the Right People
From Sophie Cross:
Website
LinkedIn
Mentioned in this video:
Goldie’s episode: She posted 800 daily LinkedIn videos… and this happened! (July 21)
Your Expertise Deserves to Be Known
The Behavioring Lab is a new community for experienced professionals who want to build a professional brand that gets them known, trusted, and chosen by the right people.
→ http://behavioringlab.com/
Join the founding member waitlist.
—
Produced by Ideablossoms