Steve Ingham Special on brain manipulation, blind spots, momentum and influence

sent by Nick Grantham | 27th July 2021

"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything."

George Bernard Shaw

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Do you know the film Men in Black? The one where after the aliens have wreaked havoc and people have been saved from peril, the heroes pull out a little torch pen, pop their sunglasses on (UVA and UVB plus brain wiping protection) and press the button. Zap, all the people around who've witnessed the mayhem, have their memories wiped, and order is restored. What would you do if you had one of those? What if you could use your pen to tweak someone's behaviour, tone down someone's bias, or remove stubborn resistance to your ideas? Who would be the recipient of your brain manipulation?

Source: George Bernard Shaw


"We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are."

Talmudic Scriptures

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In an age of immediacy, information overload and connection, it can be all too easy to fall into the trap of feeling hard done by, frustrated or baffled that someone else doesn't just jump on your idea and shout your excellence from the rooftops. As a practitioner seeing things mainly from my point of view, I've certainly been guilty of taking this stand over the years. However, it wasn't until I led teams that I saw the bigger picture. I watched motivated, passionate, and (often) intelligent people doing precisely that, blind to their bias, only seeing things from their point of view, background, education, discipline, and preferences.

Source: Talmudic Scriptures


"It takes a leader to create the momentum, it takes a vision to direct the momentum, it takes a massive action to build on the momentum, and it takes self-discipline to sustain the momentum. Momentum is the bridge between a vision and its results."

Farshad Asl

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From the film Ocean's Eleven, where they were hatching a plan to create the conditions for change. Don't take the analogy the wrong way and raid a casino or 'catch' someone out, leaving the 'target' spinning and banging their desk at being tricked. Instead, take it more as the nudges you might make today that could sow a seed tomorrow to create momentum in a team next month. What would you need to do to develop a movement in a group, culture and organisation in years to come if you were reverse engineering a set of dominoes to fall in a specific direction longer-term? What would you do NOW? What would you stop doing? What would you not worry about that might be holding you back?

Source: Farshad Asl


"It is more important to influence people than to impress them."

Adrian Rogers

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Influence doesn't come from clever tricks, hacks and brain manipulation pens. It comes from investing in understanding the point of view of the people around you, the group's needs, and turning up consistently and intentionally to create the conditions for progressive improvement.

Source: Adrian Rogers


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