Year after year, students are desperate for a chance to take Yale University professor Zoe Chance’s course “Mastering Influence and Persuasion”—the most popular at the Management school—and for good reason: a world-renowned management thinker and award-winning researcher, Chance possesses life-changing secrets. Now, she is sharing her wisdom with everyone in INFLUENCE IS YOUR SUPERPOWER: The Science of Winning Hearts, Sparking Change, and Making Good Things Happen. This book is a game-changer in the world of self-help and personal success and will change the way people think about, talk about, and practice influencing each other.
You were born influential, a natural at persuading others to take care of you. But then you were taught to suppress that power, follow the rules, wait your turn, and not make waves. But influence is the secret sauce that brings great ideas to life and makes people want to say yes to you. Used intelligently, it’s like a superpower that can make good things happen. And Zoe will help you develop that power. She’s a Harvard-trained behavioral scientist who draws on groundbreaking research in behavioral economics, neuroscience, and psychology. And she’ll show you how to effect change that’s meaningful, durable, and contagious in short, fun chapters like “The No That Saved the World,” “Curious Qualities of Charisma,” “Defense Against the Dark Arts,” and “Negotiating While Female.” On these pages, you’ll meet Jennifer Lawrence, Genghis Khan, skydivers, sharks, and a mind reader in a gorilla costume.
Join Professor Zoe Chance in discussion with Professor Alison Wood Brooks and Professor Michael I. Norton, hosted by Professor Todd Rogers, Behavioral Insights Group Faculty Chair
Zoe Chance is a writer, teacher, researcher, and climate philanthropist obsessed with the topic of interpersonal influence. She earned her doctorate from HBS, under the wise tutelage of Mike Norton 🙂, and now teaches the most popular course at Yale SOM. The course is the basis for her book INFLUENCE IS YOUR SUPERPOWER, which is a bestseller being translated into 28 languages. Her framework for behavior change is the foundation for Google’s global food policy, and before academia, she managed a $200 million segment of the Barbie brand at Mattel. Today, Zoe teaches smart, kind people to raise money for charity, get elected to political office, fund startups, start movements, save lives, find love, negotiate great deals and job offers, and even get along better with their kids. In other words, she helps people to use their superpower of influence as a force for good.
Alison Wood Brooks is the O’Brien Associate Professor of Business Administration and Hellman Faculty Fellow at the Harvard Business School. She teaches an award-winning course in the MBA curriculum called “TALK: How to talk gooder in business and life,” and chairs a program for executives called “Communicating for Impact.” She was named a Best 40-Under-40 Business School Professor in 2021 by Poets & Quants, and is currently writing Light up the World: The New Science of Conversation (Crown), which covers her decade of research uncovering the psychology of conversation. At home, at work, on the street, on zoom, and beyond—why do we talk to people, what are our goals, and how can we converse more effectively to light up the world, one conversation at a time?
Michael I. Norton is the Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He is the co-author – with Elizabeth Dunn – of the book, Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending. In 2012, he was selected for Wired Magazine’s Smart List as one of “50 People Who Will Change the World” and his TEDx talk, How to Buy Happiness, has been viewed more than 4 million times. He is currently writing The Ritual Effect (Scribner), which reviews his decade of research exploring the benefits of rituals in domains such as coping with grief, strengthening bonds, and improving health – in our relationships, in our families, and in our workplaces.
Todd Rogers is Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is a behavioral scientist whose work: supports student success and attendance; strengthens democracy; and improves communication. Todd has co-founded two social enterprises. First, the Analyst Institute which focuses on improving voter communications. He serves on the Analyst Institute’s board. Second, EveryDay Labs which partners with school districts to reduce student absenteeism. He is co-founder, equity holder, and Chief Scientist at Everyday Labs (an unpaid position). At Harvard, Todd is the faculty director of the Behavioral Insights Group, faculty chair of the executive education program Behavioral Insights and Public Policy, and director of the Student Social Support R&D Lab. He is also Senior Scientist at ideas42 and Academic Advisor at the Behavioural Insights Team. Todd received a Ph.D. jointly from Harvard’s department of Psychology and Harvard Business School, and received a B.A. from Williams College, majoring in both Religion and Psychology. Follow Todd: @Todd_Rogers_
