Influence Anyone

In this solo episode, Howie shares a very personal story. It happened in March, 2022. A brief phone call ended his dream job and he was forced to rebuild his career. Now, in hindsight, if he could redo the 18 months that followed, there are three things he'd do (very) differently.

Hit play and listen to Howie break down why being good at your job will not keep you safe in the modern workplace and how most professionals confuse personal branding with professional branding — that confusion is exactly what keeps smart, credible professionals invisible. Howie holds nothing back and walks through the three strategic foundations that have to be locked in before anyone posts a single thing online.

Chapters:

00:00:00 The Call That Ended My Dream Job
00:04:08 3 Reasons Building a Professional Brand Matters
00:09:59 Personal Brand vs Professional Brand
00:13:59 The Question Almost Everyone Skips
00:18:00 The 3 Foundations of a Powerful Professional Brand
00:31:21 The Skill Nobody Taught You
00:33:49 3 Things I’d Redo After Getting Laid Off

What’s Your Influence Style Profile? What do you do when you need someone to do something?

This quiz will help you discover your most natural influence style, so you can use that strength more effectively (and know your blind spots.)

→ https://www.influencestylequiz.com/

Join 1,025+ leaders who've already uncovered what their style is.

Become the Expert People Remember, Trust, and Choose.

Expert Foundations is a live 3-week program where you'll build the three foundations every influential expert needs.

→ https://www.howiechan.com/expertfoundations

Next cohort begins August 17 - September 4, 2026

—

Produced by Ideablossoms (https://ideablossoms.com/)

Howie Chan sits down with Owen Fitzpatrick, social psychologist and author of Inner Propaganda, to unpack why your brain is running a quiet campaign against your own objectivity. Owen reveals that belief has almost nothing to do with logic. It has to do with what feels right, safe, and stable.
Together they break down the four different kinds of truth we mistake for objective fact, why argumentation almost never changes anyone's mind, how to build a belief growth mindset, and why your brain decides what to believe before it ever starts reasoning.
Owen also shares the deeply personal story behind why he's spent his career studying belief: he got very close to ending his life at 14 years old, but one line in his own suicide letter stopped him and saved his life.
Chapters:
00:00:00 How Our Beliefs Influence Our Reality
00:12:34 Why This Matters: Living in a Difficult World
00:17:12 Building a Belief Growth Mindset
00:22:16 The Kale Analogy: Curating Your Information Diet
00:26:56 Desired Truth: When We Don't Want to Believe
00:31:22 Becoming a Belief Leader
00:34:02 The Courage to Change Your Beliefs
00:37:19 The Antifragile Identity
00:43:03 Influencing Teams and Companies
00:52:03 Nuance, Real Propaganda, and Complex Characters
01:00:52 Owen's Story: The Letter That Saved His Life (and His Final Message)
From Owen Fitzpatrick:
Website
LinkedIn
Book: Inner Propaganda
Mentioned in this video:
Beyond Belief: The Truth About Why You Feel STUCK | Behavioral Change w/ Nir Eyal (March 10)
What’s Your Influence Style Profile? What do you do when you need someone to do something?
This quiz will help you discover your most natural influence style, so you can use that strength more effectively (and know your blind spots.)
→ https://www.influencestylequiz.com/
Join 900+ leaders who've already uncovered what their style is.
Become the Expert People Remember, Trust, and Choose.
Expert Foundations is a live 3-week program where you'll build the three foundations every influential expert needs.
→ https://www.howiechan.com/expertfoundations
Next cohort begins August 17 - September 4, 2026
—
Produced by Ideablossoms

The goldfish attention span myth has been repeated in TED Talks, boardrooms, and marketing decks for years, but it never actually existed. In this solo episode, Howie Chan traces the myth back to its source, then asks a better question: if attention span isn't shrinking, what actually decides where the brain looks?
Howie breaks down why psychologists rarely study attention the way we imagine it, and unpacks the deeper mechanism behind why some ideas get noticed while others disappear into the noise. He walks through the seven signals the brain has evolved to prioritize, from relevance and novelty to identity and consequence, and shows how each one shapes whether a presentation, a pitch, or a single sentence earns someone's focus.
Chapters:
00:00:00 Debunking the Goldfish Attention Span Myth
00:02:53 One of the Most Important Questions in Influence and Leadership
00:05:07 What Attention Actually Is
00:07:29 The Seven Signals the Brain Notices
00:18:35 Bringing the Seven Signals Together
00:19:42 The Responsibility That Comes With Attention
Check out Howie’s episode with Dr. Carmen Simon: B2B or B2C: The Only 10% That Matters in Marketing & Sales (June 23)
What’s Your Influence Style? What do you do when you need someone to do something?
This quiz will help you discover your most natural influence style, so you can use that strength more effectively (and know your blind spots.)
→ https://www.influencestylequiz.com/
Join 900+ leaders who've already uncovered what their style is.
—
Produced by Ideablossoms

Goldie Chan filmed her first LinkedIn video in 2017 on an iPhone 5, with no editing, no title cards, and no plan. 800 consecutive videos later, she is one of the people who invented what LinkedIn videos even look like.

In this episode, Howie Chan sits down with Goldie, author of Personal Branding for Introverts, to unpack the real difference between reputation and personal brand, the evolutionary wiring that keeps talented experts invisible, why volume has nothing to do with visibility and Goldie’s framework for building a personal brand that can survive a total identity overhaul.

You'll learn the hard and soft keyword exercise Goldie uses to help clients find real clarity, why introversion has nothing to do with visibility, how to tell a gimmick from a genuine signature, and how to grow your influence inside a company without losing yourself in the process.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Goldie Chan and the Original LinkedIn Video
00:13:17 Creating a Genuine Personal Brand
00:19:19 Reputation vs Personal Brand
00:22:43 The Myths Surrounding Introverts
00:26:25 An Exercise to Build Your Personal Brand
00:34:40 Transparency vs Authenticity (and Guarding Your Privacy)
00:41:34 The Why of Building a Personal Brand
00:47:55 How to Pivot Your Personal Brand
00:52:35 Common Pitfalls When Building a Personal Brand
00:58:29 Start With One Platform, Then Build the Ecosystem
01:03:29 Navigating Employer vs Personal Brand Tension
01:09:34 Know Yourself Before You Brand Yourself

From Goldie Chan:

Website

LinkedIn

Personal Branding for Introverts

Mentioned in this video:

99% of people are using LinkedIn WRONG (5 things I’d do if I had to start today) (April 21)

What’s Your Influence Style Profile? What do you do when you need someone to do something?

This quiz will help you discover your most natural influence style, so you can use that strength more effectively (and know your blind spots.)

→ https://www.influencestylequiz.com/

Join 800+ leaders who've already uncovered what their style is.

The Invisible Expert Problem FREE Masterclass

How to become known WITHOUT chasing followers or pretending to be someone you’re not.

→ https://events.influencesystemmastery.com/register

July 30, Thursday, 11 am CST, 6 pm UK, 6 pm CET

—

Produced by Ideablossoms

Most people think LinkedIn success comes down to knowing the algorithm. Howie Chan disagrees. After being named the number one creator worldwide for branding and positioning on LinkedIn in 2024, he's found that the people who consistently win on the platform aren't the ones with the best tactics, they're the ones who understand human psychology.

In this solo episode, Howie breaks down the five psychological beliefs shared by the most successful people on LinkedIn. Drawing on research from Princeton's Oppenheimer and frameworks from Clayton Christensen, he shows why opportunities are created in the mind long before they show up in your inbox.

You'll learn why simplicity increases perceived competence, why sameness makes you invisible, and why the real driver of opportunity is being remembered, not being the loudest.

Chapters:

00:01:26 LinkedIn Is More Than a Social Platform

00:04:25 Trait 1: Get Clear on What You Want

00:05:26 Trait 2: Clarity Over Cleverness

00:06:53 Trait 3: Different Beats Better

00:08:42 Trait 4: Opportunities Are Social

00:09:24 Trait 5: Own a Specific Problem

Check out Howie’s episode on  how you can be better than 99% of people who use LinkedIn: 99% of people are using LinkedIn WRONG (5 things I’d do if I had to start today) (April 21)

What’s Your Influence Style? What do you do when you need someone to do something?

This quiz will help you discover your most natural influence style, so you can use that strength more effectively (and know your blind spots.)

→ https://www.influencestylequiz.com/

Join 800+ leaders who've already uncovered what their style is.

—

Produced by Ideablossoms