Marketing Book Worth a Look: Influence Is Your Superpower, by Zoe Chance

The language around influence can be very contradictory. When some individuals expertly wield their influence we see in them qualities like strength, determination, and panache. For ourselves? Sometimes we hear echoes of childhood admonishments for being too bossy or pushy. We worry about coming across as manipulative. 

We suppress our inborn panache. 

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Your inner influencer is just waiting to be unleashed.

In her new book, Influence Is Your Superpower, professor, author, and influential behavioral scientist Zoe Chance artfully explains how influence works and how to become the influencer you were always meant to be.  

This is a fundamentals-building book, not a complete guide to the behavioral science behind influence. As Chance notes, “Rather than try to teach you everything about influence (which would be impossible), I’m going to focus on the low-hanging fruit—surprising insights, small changes, and manageable actions that have an outsize impact.”

Take a Look: Influence Is Your Superpower: The Science of Winning Hearts, Sparking Change, and Making Good Things Happen, by Zoe Chance

Chance doesn’t waste any time tearing down our misconceptions about influence. She starts with a kind but firm reminder of how we arrived at a place in our lives where we are operating with this deeply repressed superpower. 

“While your childhood sphere of influence was expanding,” she writes, “you were also being taught to be obedient and play nice. To comply with norms, rules, parents, and teachers.” 

This is where, according to Chance, our superpowers start to go on lockdown. One of the things that prevents us, as adults, from naturally rediscovering our powers of influence is that our cultural understanding of influence is, well, wrong. 

“I find that kind people are particularly reluctant to try to influence others because they don’t want to manipulate anyone,” she explains in the book. “And smart people are more likely to misunderstand the way influence works. So if you’re a kind, smart person, you have a double liability that keeps you from being as influential as you could be. But as you shift your perspective and practice some new tools, you’ll find some of these obstacles melting away.” 

The Science of Decision-Making

Two of the central characters in Chance’s book are personifications of the two systems that guide our decision-making: the Gator and the Judge.

Chance introduces these characters in Chapter Two, titled “Influence Doesn’t Work the Way You Think.” A skilled storyteller, she sets the scene by describing her attempt at gator-feeding while vacationing in Orlando, creating an archetype that explains the largely impulsive and habitual nature of human decision-making.

As a counter and balance to this impulsive persona, Chance introduces the Judge, the archetype of our rational and measured selves. Spoiler: the Judge is not responsible for most of our choices, even if we like to believe they are.

This foundational introduction to the archetypes of human decision-making sets the stage for the chapters that follow – chapters that can be read in any order, per Chance, and picked up as needed. 

Bites of Wisdom – Big and Small

Chance has structured this book in a way that allows readers to take a deep dive into data-rich topics in each main chapter, or skim across the half-chapters to find individual nuggets of insight. 

These are some of the key takeaways you’ll find within the pages of Influence Is Your Superpower. 

The power of ‘no’

Most of us are bad at saying “no” and afraid of hearing it. This, Chance observes, doesn’t do us – or others – any good. “Reluctance to say it leaves us overcommitted. Difficulty hearing it leaves us overly cautious and afraid to ask.” 

She invites readers to take the “no” challenge by committing to refusing requests for your time and labor over a 24-hour period. This is the first step in learning how to conserve your time through boundary setting and recognize that “no” is not the worst word to hear from others.

The path of least resistance

Human decision-making, as we were told early on in this book, is largely not based on rational thought. This means that the easiest way to win someone over is to make it easy.

Chance shares, “The bedrock principle of influencing behavior is this: People tend to take the path of least resistance. Ease is the single best predictor of behavior.”

Influence is a collaborative process

One of the main points threaded throughout this book is how important authenticity and relationship-building skills are to the process of developing your powers of influence.

When it comes time to use these powers in a negotiation, a collaborative approach is far more beneficial to both parties.

Chance suggests keeping these three questions in mind throughout the negotiation process:

• How could this be even better for me?
• How could it be even better for them?
• Who else could benefit?

“These are invitations to dream big,” Chance explains. “Since they begin with a private conversation between you and yourself, let your Gator’s pleasure centers run wild (and don’t listen yet to the Judge pointing out roadblocks).”

Start Picking Out Your Cape

This book is an inspirational and uplifting read that will have even the most hesitant superhero breaking down the walls of self-doubt and embracing their inner influencer. 

Unlock your full potential and earn those wins you deserve with Influence Is Your Superpower: The Science of Winning Hearts, Sparking Change, and Making Good Things Happen.

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