Last week I shared some of the highlights of LM2020 – the annual conference of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.  I promised I would share some insights from one of the most meaningful presentations, on being an influencer, by Dr Ed Tori.  He is the director, Centre for Health Influence and Engagement, MedStar Institute for Innovation. Marketing is all about influencing people – to buy your product of course.  Influence is not just a word, it is a science.  The father of public relations (also called propaganda in some circles) was Edward Bernays.  He had more to do with women starting to smoke in public in the early 1900’s than anyone else, by promoting cigarettes as “freedom torches” during women’s feminism movement marches.  Another more ethical influencer was Claude Hopkins, who through a few deft strokes of his pen persuaded more than half of Americans to brush their teeth regularly – the effects of what is termed direct response copywriting. “Influence is the highest-yield productivity tool known to humankind”, said Tori.  We may feel we do not have time to influence people’s perceptions.

But if we go at it the right way, we can make a huge difference. There is a great deal of non-conscious processing going on and good marketers are able to exploit that.  

As doctors we focus on logic, data and reason.  We think that if we give someone all the scientific facts about how to improve their lives, they will automatically do it.  But most people work the other way around – they start with gut-feelings, emotional response and intuition. So if we want to influence someone, we start with gut, then the emotions and then non-conscious processing. Moods first, and the mind will follow.  To quote poet Maya Angelou: “I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel!”  Feeling is important. Here are some of the simple rules to make a positive influence on people:

1. Manage your own state – how you approach people can have a profound influence on them. If you are grumpy or sleep deprived, or argumentative, you will battle to get through to them. Think the best of them. Don’t allow other people to  highjack your opportunity to begin a fresh relationship slate uncluttered with prejudices.
2. Make them comfortable – manage their state. Engineer comfort.  Pay close attention to body language.  Con artists are masters at this.  But you can also do it because you care about the people you are influencing.
3. Remove objections early. Identify the objection before it comes up, then dispel it.  Get them out of their box of limiting beliefs.  Possibility blindness is when the objection gets in the way of perspective.
4. Move people with what already moves them. This is where it helps to know their context by being observant.  Think through their mind.  Speak about things with which they are familiar.  The most effective teacher is the one who understands the issues a particular child has and can work within that context.
5. Remark about the remarkable. When you comment to a friend or loved one about how special a person is – you can be sure that message will get through to them and make them feel really good.  Not only have you made them feel good, but the person you told initially will also feel good.  Get into the habit of “gossiping” – sharing good things about people and how much you appreciate them.
6. Make it easy for people to do what you want them to do. If you want your kids to brush their teeth every night before going to bed, then make the toothbrush and toothpaste readily available. If you want them to put their clothes away, then don’t make it difficult to open the cupboard door because the bed is too close – you get the drift.
7. Manage your action. Practice makes permanent (not perfect).  Even olympic athletes have coaches, as good as they are.  Optimise the way you do things.

So how much have I influenced you?  Hopefully you will have picked up a few tips to improve your ability to influence your children, your spouse, your boss, your colleagues. Practice making people comfortable if you want to influence them. Remember, Covid is still very much with us. It is easy to become lax in keeping social distance, and use of masks.  It seems we are entering our second wave now – whether it affects you or not has much to do with how careful you are about keeping the rules.   Dave Glass

Dr David Glass graduated from UCT in 1975. He spent the next 12 years working at a mission hospital in Lesotho, where much of his work involved health education and interventions to improve health, aside from the normal busy clinical work of an under-resourced mission hospital. He returned to UCT in 1990 to specialise in obstetrics/gynaecology and then moved to the South Coast where he had the privilege of, amongst other things, ushering 7000 babies into the world. He no longer delivers babies but is still very clinically active in gynaecology. An old passion, preventive health care, has now replaced the obstetrics side of his work. He is eager to share insights he has gathered over the years on how to prevent and reverse so many of the modern scourges of lifestyle – obesity, diabetes, ischaemic heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, common cancers, etc. He is a family man, with a supportive wife, and two grown children, and four beautiful grandchildren. His hobbies include walking, cycling, vegetable gardening, bird-watching, travelling and writing. He is active in community health outreach and deeply involved in church activities. He enjoys teaching and sharing information. HAVE YOUR SAY Like the South Coast Herald’s Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram