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

One of the most interesting people I've had on Brainfluence is Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly. He's a renowned futurist, a perpetual gadget guru, a serious photographer, and an even more serious traveler. His latest project doesn't fit our usual conversation topics, but, as expected, his insights are fascinating. Book link: https://amzn.to/33rqNzv Show notes link: Kevin Kelly, co-founder of WIRED and renowned futurist, has toured Asia for over half a century. Not only has he witnessed its changing culturhttps://www.rogerdooley.com/kevin-kelly-vanishing/e and landscape, but he's also captured his experience in 9000 photographs, later compiled into 1000 pages of his most recent book, Vanishing Asia.

Kevin set off for Asia in 1972 with a film camera. With no remote idea about Asia or its culture, he started to document the traditions that eventually seemed "disappearing even from first sight". He put together the results from his privileged journey (as he describes it) in his three-volume book, which speaks everything traditional about Turkey in the West to Japan in the East. Kevin's current title at Wired is "Senior Maverick," a designation I'm sure you will agree is appropriate.

One of the most interesting people I've had on Brainfluence is Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly. He's a renowned futurist, a perpetual gadget guru, a serious photographer, and an even more serious traveler. His latest project doesn't fit our usual conversation topics, but, as expected, his insights are fascinating. Book link: https://amzn.to/33rqNzv Show notes link: Kevin Kelly, co-founder of WIRED and renowned futurist, has toured Asia for over half a century. Not only has he witnessed its changing culturhttps://www.rogerdooley.com/kevin-kelly-vanishing/e and landscape, but he's also captured his experience in 9000 photographs, later compiled into 1000 pages of his most recent book, Vanishing Asia.

Kevin set off for Asia in 1972 with a film camera. With no remote idea about Asia or its culture, he started to document the traditions that eventually seemed "disappearing even from first sight". He put together the results from his privileged journey (as he describes it) in his three-volume book, which speaks everything traditional about Turkey in the West to Japan in the East. Kevin's current title at Wired is "Senior Maverick," a designation I'm sure you will agree is appropriate.

In today's episode, we are joined by Nathalie Nahai, an international speaker, author, and consultant whose work explores the intersection between persuasive technology, ethics, and the psychology behind evolving consumer behaviors. Nathalie talks about the concept in the book Business Unusual, the importance of trust for consumers today, the meaning of eudaimonic culture, and examples of companies with eudaimonic culture. She also shares some insights on similarity and social identity, virtual work, what we can do to be better at virtual meetings and, building trust virtually. Tune in to learn more about building better customer relationships and a successful, sustainable organization. Show Notes: https://www.rogerdooley.com/nathalie-nahai-unusual/ ‎

Key Moments: [01:43] The concept of the book Business Unusual [03:14] The importance of trust for customers today [05:37] The dissonance between the experience for the customers and the internal marginations of the company [07:35] Eudaemonic culture [09:22] Examples of companies with a eudaemonic culture [14:41] People learning meaning [17:07] Similarity and social identity [18:08] The thoughtful marketing experience [22:38] Virtual work [25:06] What can one do to be better at virtual meetings? [28:00] Building trust virtually [29:18] Zoom happy hours

Cass R. Sunstein is currently the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. In 2018, he received the Holberg Prize from the government of Norway, sometimes described as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for law and the humanities. In 2020, the World Health Organization appointed him as Chair of its technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. He's co-author with Richard Thaler of the best-seller NUDGE.

Sunstein's new book is SLUDGE, which builds on the ideas in Nudge and describes how bad processes, whether unintentionally bad or bad by design, waste billions of dollars and untold hours in effortful citizen and customer experience. Sunstein joins Brainfluence for a lively discussion of sludge, friction, and how to make the world a better place.