How to Become an Influential Leader with Richard Newman

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. Brought to you by the HubSpot. Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like DTC Pod. Today, we'll be breaking down how to become an influential leader. To drop these value bombs, I brought to Richard Newman into EO Fire Studios. Richard has trained over 130 ,000 business leaders worldwide on how to lead, inspire, and motivate their teams, helping one client win over$1 billion in new business in just one year. In today's foundation, we'll talk about leadership skills. We'll talk about natural born leaders.

0:39We'll talk about the best strategies to lead, the number one way to influence, and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Richard and our sponsors. Nudge, hosted by Phil Agnew, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Ever notice how the smallest changes can have the biggest impact? On Nudge, you learn simple evidence-backed to help you kick bad habits, get a raise, and grow a business. Oh, and it's the UK's Fast Growing Business Podcast. A recent episode on how to win any argument shares decade-long research into persuasion from a world-leading neuroscientist.

1:14Listen to Nudge wherever you get your podcasts. NetSuite by Oracle brings accounting, finance, inventory, and HR into one proven platform, helping you reduce costs everywhere. Backed by popular demand, NetSuite has extended its one-of-a-kind flexible financing program for a few more weeks, head to netsuite.com slash fire. Richard, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Thanks, and hi, Fire Nation. So most people believe that personality profile tests will tell you who you are and that you should stay in that box to be successful.

1:56And it's important for people to know this is completely false. So what a personality profile test does is it shows you a moment in time. It's a bit like saying, okay, here's a big map and this is where you are on the map right now. But that doesn't mean you have to be in that place on the map for the rest of your life. So in fact, the most popular personality profile test is MBTI. And it's been proven many times that over 50 % of people who take an MBTI test will get a different result just a few weeks later. So it's key to know it's a moment in time and it's useful for that, but it doesn't tell you who you are forever.

2:30And this is key, I think, for entrepreneurs because there's so many people around you, like your family, your friends, your team, the economy, who might want to try and put you in a box. And if you're an entrepreneur, it's sometimes tempting to do something over and over if you're getting some success with it. But that can lead to burnout and a lack of meaning and a lack of purpose in your life. So what I really love teaching people is how do you expand your potential? How do you find out who you truly are and who you can truly become so you can reach new levels of success in your business and in your personal life?

2:59And that can ultimately allow you to lead your life towards a future that you truly care about outside of that box and towards your true potential. Fire Nation, I know that you are not one to go willingly into a box and or stay in a box that you've been, quote unquote, put into for long. So good on you. Good intel from Richard. And we're talking today about how to become an influential leader. Now, leadership skills have always been important, Richard, but you're actually seeing a trend of massive interest in leadership skills right now. Why is that? Yeah, I mean, people can take a look at this for themselves.

3:38If you look at Google Trends over the last 15 years, this is always fascinating, whatever you want to look at. If you look at communication skills, you can see the same type of search volume over the last 15 years for things like negotiation skills and presentation skills and influence. But if you look at leadership skills, it's got three times the amount of demand in just the last four years. And I believe the reason behind this is that we are truly tired of the leaders that we see around us. There's real apathy for what we see in the world of politics and also business and the leaders that we are seeing in our lives.

4:10And I think that the last few years has been a moment of reflection for people to think, well, you know, I want to take charge of my life. So if I'm going to take charge of my life, I need leadership skills and businesses want better leaders as well. Entrepreneurs are seeking out greater leadership skills because that allows you to take your life to the next level, to scale your business and to tilt the world as you see it in a more positive direction. And thankfully, there is a system that you can use to become a more influential leader, which means that you can lead a company, lead a team and live life on your terms.

4:40And even say speaking on stage to get paid for it as a thought leader. There's so many possibilities there and that's what people are reaching out for right now. Now, I was in the army for eight years as an officer and I would always look to my fellow officers and we would have conversations about who the best leaders were in our chain of command, et cetera, et cetera. And a lot of times we're like, oh, that person's just a natural, a natural leader. Now, again, we were 22, 23 years old. We My question to you is, are some people just better natural leaders than others? Does that even exist? So you're going to find people around you, no matter where you are in the world, that seem to be natural raconteurs who they just sort of tell stories and they don't really know why they're able to do that sort of thing.

5:26So that does exist. But the key to this that I'm always keen to talk about, and this is particularly to anybody listening who's thinking, look, I'm not a natural leader. I'm not a natural speaker, and I never will be. I actually wrote a book about this a few years ago, which was called You Were Born to Speak, to hammer home this message to everyone, because all of us are born to speak. And what I mean by that is that you can see this through the work of Yuval Noah Harari, who said, very simply, we are the dominant species on the planet because of our ability to communicate more effectively at scale than any other species on Earth.

5:59And when you're an influential speaker, you can create a much greater impact on your business, your team, the economy, your income and so on. And I really know this from myself. Some people might be thinking, oh, well, does he know about that? Maybe he's a natural storyteller himself. I really know what it feels like to not have a voice. So when I was a kid, I was really shy. I'm highly introverted and I'm also autistic. and what that means for me is that when I was looking at communication as a kid and as a teenager I felt like I was living in this glass bubble looking at other people who were communicating and I was on the outside trying to figure out what on earth is going on and so a conversation to me would look like a 10 lane super highway of words going in both directions and me on the sidelines thinking I don't even know where the on-ramp is and so I studied communication and I read over 200 books in the area of communication I spent years studying acting at a professional acting school.

6:52And then I created my own scientific research, which was published in the journal psychology, which is all about what are the principles that every single human could use to be more influential and a better communicator. And since then, my company, in my company, we've been paid over$30 million to teach communication to clients worldwide. So I'm coming from a background where I didn't even know how to do it. And now we've got to that level of expertise. So if I can do this, absolutely anybody can learn how to be an awesome communicator if They just know how it's done. I will tell you today, I am an absolute extrovert.

7:26I mean, I definitely get energy from being around people. I love being on stage speaking. But man, I have such clear memories of being in seventh grade and being so shy, so nervous in almost every social scenario. I remember when we used to have these after school dances, I would come up with the worst excuses to not attend because it was so terrifying to me to be in a gym where other people are were dancing with other people. I mean, so Fire Nation, like you can evolve, you can decide what you want to become and then start to put the things in place, the pieces in play to get there. Now, the reality is you're going to experience challenges doing that, evolving.

8:08I mean, that's just part of the game of being an entrepreneur in general. But I want to know, So speaking of challenging times, the best strategy, Richard, to lead people when these challenging times occur? Yeah, this has been a question that people have been coming to me with entrepreneurs, VPs, leadership teams of global businesses have come to us the last few years saying, look, we've got challenging times. We've got so many different challenges with the pandemic to begin with and now virtual working and the economy going up and down. So many people have said they really need this. And there's wars going on, uncertainty happening.

8:44So we built a system called the Influential Leader Training to help people really own their voice and lead their future so that they can lead others through challenging times. And there's three major pieces to this that people need to be aware of. So firstly, you've got to understand how do you have a powerful values-led vision that is tapping into your core so that when people are wondering what's happening and that they come to you and they look at you and say, maybe as an entrepreneur, a business leader, their team leader, and they say, you know, what do we do? What are we going to do in this situation that's just blown up in front of you?

9:17Something that you've never seen or experienced before. And you need to be ready in those situations to be the rock in the storm so that you can reach inside of yourself to your values led vision, right into your core. And you know exactly which direction to go in. It doesn't matter what's happening in the world around you. You've always got that ability, like that internal compass, which you can look at any time and say, this is the direction. Even if there's fog in front of you, mountains and treacherous terrain, you know exactly which way to go. And then the second thing that you need, so some people have got that, they kind of think, I sort of know where I'm going and heading.

9:48But then the second piece people need is the archetypes of a successful leader. Because sometimes people just get a little bit stuck around doing one thing and a challenge comes up and they're not sure what to do next. So you've got to be agile to really shift and be who you need to be when challenges come your way, taking a purposeful journey that really expands who you are as you're able to then lead more people and scale through challenging times. And that takes a sense of knowing where you are right now, knowing all the other possibilities for who you can become as a leader and knowing how to take that journey towards that.

10:23And then the third thing, once you've got those pieces, you've got the values led vision, you know who you need to become. The third piece you've got to do is you've got to have the science of influence working on your side, which is a matter of understanding how do you influence any person from any background, whether they're virtual or in person, it could be a team you're hiring and they're on the other side of the world. How do you make sure that you're influencing people using science, not just using gut instinct, because that's going to let you down eventually so that you understand how you can do that for people from all sorts of different backgrounds by understanding how human beings are able to be influenced by you in each and every day.

10:58Wow. I mean, Fire Nation, that's what we call dropping value bombs. Now, if you need to rewind 30 second button a few times to come back and listen to that again, be my guest. We will be right here. And we have so much more to talk about when we get back from thinking our sponsors. Welcome to the world of entrepreneurship. More things added to your to-do list every day and less time to accomplish the things that matter most. Add to all that the number of tools it takes to run your coaching programs, online courses, growing team in your physical product sales, and you've really got your hands full.

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14:25What would you say in your experience is the number one way to influence people? So the key to influencing anybody from any background is to understand what is it that already influences them. So this is the rise of influencers that you've seen in the last few years where brands will go to someone who's already influencing you in order to get their brands into your hands. So if you understand that on a simple sort of global level, then you've got to think, well, what is it that I can personally do to be of influence to others? And there's a couple of key areas to be aware of here. So firstly, your nonverbal behavior, you've got to get very good at understanding what is it that influences people in the nuances, not the simple, obvious things that people have heard about, like folding your arms or scratching your nose and so on, but going much deeper than that.

15:10And going back a few years ago, I went to live in the foothills of the Himalayas, living with a group of monks who didn't speak a single word of English, these Tibetan monks, and I was there to help teach them English from the ground up. And they didn't speak my language, I didn't speak theirs. And by spending six months with them, away from everything, there was no Wi-Fi, there was no mobile phones, it was just me and them trying to connect. I started to learn that there are ways that you can communicate non-verbally beyond the use of words. So you have a much more powerful way to engage people, build rapport, gain respect from others from that place.

15:44So that's one of the key things that is universal if you understand exactly how to work it. The second piece that's really key is storytelling. And if anyone's seen the movie Inception, you have this idea of planting an idea in someone's mind so deeply that it changes their behaviors day after day. If you're able to craft a message through the power of storytelling, not just having sort of some theory around it, but really knowing how you do it, then suddenly you can plant an idea in somebody's mind based on a spreadsheet you're talking about, based on some insights you've got through the power of story.

16:14And one of the big things that people get wrong in storytelling is that they make themselves the hero of their stories. And then people stop listening because they don't want to listen to you as the hero. They want to see themselves as the hero within the messages that you're crafting because that will influence them to go in a certain direction. And the last thing you've got to have, if you're really going to influence people, you've got to have the nonverbal behaviors, you've got to have the storytelling, but you've also got to have the mindset that goes with this, because you can see some people trying to take actions and tell you a message, but if their mindset isn't rock solid, then are you really going to go forwards in any direction that they're going in?

16:49Because you're going to have that sense of maybe they doubt what they're doing, so therefore I have doubt in it. So those three pieces have to work together if you're truly going to influence people. I mean, there's a lot of value right there, Fire Nation, But one thing I got to go back to, Richard, is did you have any kind of materials to use to teach these monks English? So the materials that I had were we had a blackboard, which was a few pieces of wood painted blank, black and nailed together and a piece of chalk. And we had candles because there was electricity power cuts almost every day in the area that I was living in.

17:26And so it was just me and the monks and some candles and using nonverbal behavior in order to get a message across to them. And so I had to really figure out what is it that I can physically and vocally do in such a way that will convey my message such that they'll understand me. And one of the key things that I learned from that is that we have to be congruent in the way we communicate. Now, most people day to day don't even realize that they're not being congruent, that they're sort of saying something. But their body language, their voice, their habits are going in a slightly different direction to their message.

17:58And it confuses the listener. And we always pay more attention to what you're doing than what you're saying. And so if there's any conflict there, then it diminishes your influence. So you've got to understand what are the habits that you have right now that are pulling away from your congruency so you can strip those back and be fully congruent. And I had to get really good at that when I was working with these monks, because say, if I was trying to teach them the word excited, if I didn't look excited and I didn't sound excited, they had no idea what that word meant. They thought I could have been saying the word pineapple.

18:26It wouldn't make any difference. And these days in business, I find there's so many people who they don't even realize they don't have the full congruency when they're speaking words. And therefore, they might be saying the right message, but not getting the right reaction because that congruency isn't there in simple habits that they need to be able to unpick. Fire Nation, just wow. Now, people succeed as leaders for a long time, Richard, but then they hit a roadblock for just some weird reason or some unknown reason. What typically goes wrong? Yeah. So I've seen this time and time again with people of businesses of all sizes.

19:01And there could be somebody listening to this who thinks, do you know what? I'm a pretty influential leader already. I'm doing pretty well. You know, business is doing OK. And what happens when things are going well, that can be a challenge because then you get stuck in one mode. So, for example, you might see some people who are stuck in servant leadership mode and they think this is working really well. My business loves me. My team loves me. The economy loves me. And it may work well in a certain time and place until it doesn't work anymore. And I would simply say to people, grow or life will make you grow because eventually whatever you're doing right now isn't going to work.

19:36And I also see other people who are go, go, go in their business and they get stuck in what I call silverback mode. and then they suddenly wonder why their team feel like they're being hit by a bulldozer whenever this person's in a room and they they're sort of wondering well how do i how do i shift this they don't know they're still stuck in that box even though they didn't realize they were there they don't know how to change it they get burned out and you know the simple message is what got you here in life won't get you where you want to head in the future so you've got to get to a place where you have full awareness of what mode of leadership are you using what archetype do you have within the story of your business and the story of your future?

20:12And how do you shift that to make it a more compelling journey for the road ahead, but also agile, able to shift to be the version of a leader you need to be from your truth, from your core in a way that's going to best serve your business into the future? Okay. We talked about the number one way to influence people. So let's say Fire Nation is convinced, like this needs to happen. They want it to happen. What are the best ways to learn all the skills that we need to be an influential leader? So I'm so passionate about helping people in this space and I want to give them everything I possibly can.

20:43I'm an entrepreneur myself and I've helped so many entrepreneurs around the world because I believe that we are really the heart of what is going to tilt the world in a more positive direction. So I'm actually hosting a session that's called Influential Leader Live. And so people can go to InfluentialLeaderLive.com and I'm giving away there two hours per day of training that's happening July 15th to July 19th. two hours per day, which is an hour of teaching a day and an hour of Q &A a day, because I really care about not just giving people content, but understanding what are your issues? What do you need right now?

21:15Where are you stuck? Where are you struggling? And you can come and spend time with me live each day during the course of that week. You just go to influentialleaderlife.com, sign up and make sure that you're there, ready to take part. And I will personally be doing coaching with people, hot seat, taking people through everything that you need to know to understand about how to be an influential leader. Richard, as I mentioned, you've dropped value bombs today. But what's one thing you want to make sure that our listeners walk away with knowledge-wise today? I think the key thing is to be really honest with where you are right now and think about the future that you want to build and get clear with, are the current habits that you have right now truly deeply serving you?

21:56Or are you just stuck thinking, okay, I might be making some money right now. I might have some success right now, but is this truly who I want to be? Is this it? And just to let you know, it doesn't have to be. You can get out of the habits that you're in, the pace of life that you're in and build something greater that is way beyond your current view. It's possible for everybody, whether you are currently stuck thinking, I don't know how to communicate. I don't know how to lead. I was there. I was right back there. I feel you absolutely. And that's why I built this piece. So just trust that it is possible for you.

22:28You can communicate. You can lead. You just need to be willing to take that moment to invest in yourself and to grow yourself. And you'll get there on that path. If I can do it and help others do it, you can absolutely do it. And one more time, what's your call to action? So simply go to InfluentialLeaderLive.com, sign up, get your place, and I'll see you there July 15th to 19th. Fire Nation, you're the average. Of the five people you spend the most time with, you've been hanging out with RN and JLD today, so keep up that heat. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com, type Richard in the search bar, and the show notes page will pop right up.

23:03And Richard, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that, we salute you and we will catch you on the flip side. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Richard for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, are you ready to rock your very own podcast? Check out our free podcasting course where I will teach you how to create and launch your podcast for free. Freepodcastcourse.com. Freepodcastcourse.com. I will catch you there or on the flippity flip side. Nudge, hosted by Phil Agnew, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.