Influence Anyone

After 100 episodes, Howie Chan finally says the thing most podcasters won't say out loud. In this season one finale, he gets honest about the money, the growth, and the grind behind Influence Anyone.

He pulls back the curtain on a question every creator eventually faces, then he turns to the 12 guests who most influenced him and how he thinks about influence, from Robert Cialdini and a $700,000 thank-you note to Navy SEAL Rich Diviney and a lesson on fear learned during Hell Week.

Chapters

00:00:00 The Honest Truth About Influence Anyone

00:10:39 Robert Cialdini: The $700K Note

00:13:00 Scott Walker: Why Am I Talking?

00:14:34 Henna Pryor: The Fast Comeback Rate

00:16:07 Nir Eyal: Beliefs Are Tools

00:18:30 Melina Palmer: Do It Now, Not Monday

00:20:00 Phill Agnew: The Effort Effect

00:22:16 Nancy Harhut: People Don't Think the Way You Think

00:24:57 Brian Ahearn: Set Up the Ask Before the Ask

00:27:44 Owen Fitzpatrick: We Sell Ourselves Stories

00:30:09 Kwame Christian: Acknowledge Before You Ask

00:31:26 Rich Diviney: Moving Horizons

00:33:27 Sam Horn: The Hook and the Hinge

00:35:19 What Every Guest Had in Common

00:37:06 What's Next in Season Two

The Behavioring Lab

Howie is launching a membership at howiechan.com/lab to help experienced professionals close the gap between what they know and how people perceive them, using behavioral science and influence psychology.

→ howiechan.com/lab

Guest Episodes Mentioned:

Robert Cialdini: https://www.howiechan.com/podcast/robertcialdini

Scott Walker: https://www.howiechan.com/podcast/scottwalker

Henna Pryor: https://www.howiechan.com/podcast/hennapryor

Nir Eyal: https://www.howiechan.com/podcast/nireyalbelief

Melina Palmer: https://www.howiechan.com/podcast/melinapalmer

Phill Agnew: https://www.howiechan.com/podcast/phillagnew

Nancy Harhut: https://www.howiechan.com/podcast/nancyharhut

Brian Ahearn: https://www.howiechan.com/podcast/brianahearn

Owen Fitzpatrick: https://www.howiechan.com/podcast/owenfitzpatrick

Kwame Christian: https://www.howiechan.com/podcast/kwamechristian

Rich Diviney: https://www.howiechan.com/podcast/richdiviney

Sam Horn: https://www.howiechan.com/podcast/samhorn

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

Hundreds of Ku Klux Klan members have handed their robes to Daryl Davis, a Black jazz musician who won them over by listening instead of arguing. His opening question: How can you hate me if you don't even know me?

Howie Chan sits down with Joshua Bandoch, former academic, speechwriter, and author of How to Get What You Want, to unpack why that approach works and why most persuasion fails before it starts. Josh defines persuasion as shared action, not winning, and makes the case that leading with logic is itself illogical, because every human being is wired to feel first and reason second.

You'll learn the four questions that get people to yes without a pitch, why asking how someone feels opens doors that asking what they think keeps shut, how moral foundations theory helps you persuade people who don't share your values, and why the most persuasive leaders of the last century were all for something rather than against someone.

Chapters:

00:00:00 The Daryl Davis KKK Story

00:05:20 Biggest Persuasion Misconception

00:08:04 Persuasion as Shared Action

00:12:24 Why We're Wired to Talk About Ourselves

00:15:46 Questions That Reveal What People Want

00:17:43 Leading with Emotion Versus Logic

00:24:57 How to Read an Audience You Can't Talk To

00:27:07 Appealing to Values Without Pandering

00:36:26 Be For Something

00:42:18 The 4 Questions That Get People to Yes

00:50:18 Why Experts Struggle to Lead With Feelings

00:58:05 Stories That Move People to Act

01:00:56 Crashing Through Glass Ceilings

From Joshua Bandoch:

Website (https://joshuabandoch.com/)
LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-bandoch-02211b167)
Book (https://joshuabandoch.com/book/)

Mentioned in this episode:

Mark Victor Hansen’s 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) (Aug 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.

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Produced by https://ideablossoms.com

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

Mark Victor Hansen got rejected 144 times before Chicken Soup for the Soul became one of the bestselling book series in history. In this episode, Howie Chan sits down with the legendary author, publisher, and co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul franchise to unpack the psychology behind persistence, goal-setting, destiny, and influence.

Hansen breaks down why most people never figure out what they actually want, and shares the mental technique he and Jack Canfield used to program their subconscious mind while they slept, the same process that produced the Chicken Soup for the Soul title itself. He explains why storytelling is the real engine behind influence and sales, and walks through the traps that kill most first-time authors before they ever finish a book.

You'll learn why writing down your goals every day changes how your brain processes opportunity, how to identify a niche worth owning, and how the biggest rejections often turn into the biggest wins.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Ask Yourself, Ask Others, Ask God: Finding Your Destiny

00:04:35 Program Your Subconscious Before You Sleep

00:12:06 Storytelling: The Core of Influence

00:22:24 Four Paths to Publishing

00:25:02 The Traps That Kill Most Books

00:26:53 Own Your Niche: How to Choose What to Write First

00:32:07 Top Tips to Write Your Book

00:35:12 Writing Emotion Into a Nonfiction Business Book

00:38:52 Turning Problems Into Fortunes

00:44:17 Marketing Your Book: Lessons from Podcasting's Biggest Names

00:54:54 Final Advice on Purpose and Legacy

From Mark Victor Hansen:

Website

LinkedIn

Books

Mentioned in this video:

How To Create Any Reality (The Belief Blueprint) (August 4)

What’s Your Influence Style Profile? What do you do when you need someone to do something?

This quiz will help you discover your most natural influence style, so you can use that strength more effectively (and know your blind spots).

→ https://www.influencestylequiz.com/

Join 1,025+ leaders who've already uncovered what their style is.

Become the Expert People Remember, Trust, and Choose.

Expert Foundations is a live 3-week program where you'll build the three foundations every influential expert needs.

→ https://www.howiechan.com/expertfoundations

Next cohort begins August 17 - September 4, 2026

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Produced by Ideablossoms

In this solo episode, Howie shares a very personal story. It happened in March, 2022. A brief phone call ended his dream job and he was forced to rebuild his career. Now, in hindsight, if he could redo the 18 months that followed, there are three things he'd do (very) differently.

Hit play and listen to Howie break down why being good at your job will not keep you safe in the modern workplace and how most professionals confuse personal branding with professional branding — that confusion is exactly what keeps smart, credible professionals invisible. Howie holds nothing back and walks through the three strategic foundations that have to be locked in before anyone posts a single thing online.

Chapters:

00:00:00 The Call That Ended My Dream Job
00:04:08 3 Reasons Building a Professional Brand Matters
00:09:59 Personal Brand vs Professional Brand
00:13:59 The Question Almost Everyone Skips
00:18:00 The 3 Foundations of a Powerful Professional Brand
00:31:21 The Skill Nobody Taught You
00:33:49 3 Things I’d Redo After Getting Laid Off

What’s Your Influence Style Profile? What do you do when you need someone to do something?

This quiz will help you discover your most natural influence style, so you can use that strength more effectively (and know your blind spots.)

→ https://www.influencestylequiz.com/

Join 1,025+ leaders who've already uncovered what their style is.

Become the Expert People Remember, Trust, and Choose.

Expert Foundations is a live 3-week program where you'll build the three foundations every influential expert needs.

→ https://www.howiechan.com/expertfoundations

Next cohort begins August 17 - September 4, 2026

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

Howie Chan sits down with Owen Fitzpatrick, social psychologist and author of Inner Propaganda, to unpack why your brain is running a quiet campaign against your own objectivity. Owen reveals that belief has almost nothing to do with logic. It has to do with what feels right, safe, and stable.

Together they break down the four different kinds of truth we mistake for objective fact, why argumentation almost never changes anyone's mind, how to build a belief growth mindset, and why your brain decides what to believe before it ever starts reasoning.

Owen also shares the deeply personal story behind why he's spent his career studying belief: he got very close to ending his life at 14 years old, but one line in his own suicide letter stopped him and saved his life.

Chapters:

00:00:00 How Our Beliefs Influence Our Reality

00:12:34 Why This Matters: Living in a Difficult World

00:17:12 Building a Belief Growth Mindset

00:22:16 The Kale Analogy: Curating Your Information Diet

00:26:56 Desired Truth: When We Don't Want to Believe

00:31:22 Becoming a Belief Leader

00:34:02 The Courage to Change Your Beliefs

00:37:19 The Antifragile Identity

00:43:03 Influencing Teams and Companies

00:52:03 Nuance, Real Propaganda, and Complex Characters

01:00:52 Owen's Story: The Letter That Saved His Life (and His Final Message)

From Owen Fitzpatrick:

Website

LinkedIn

Book: Inner Propaganda

Mentioned in this video:

Beyond Belief: The Truth About Why You Feel STUCK | Behavioral Change w/ Nir Eyal (March 10)

What’s Your Influence Style Profile? What do you do when you need someone to do something?

This quiz will help you discover your most natural influence style, so you can use that strength more effectively (and know your blind spots.)

→ https://www.influencestylequiz.com/

Join 900+ leaders who've already uncovered what their style is.

Become the Expert People Remember, Trust, and Choose.

Expert Foundations is a live 3-week program where you'll build the three foundations every influential expert needs.

→ https://www.howiechan.com/expertfoundations

Next cohort begins August 17 - September 4, 2026

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Produced by Ideablossoms