When social comparisons help or hurt

Episode 141: Jonah Berger - The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Behavior

Jonah Berger is a marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and bestselling author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On and Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior.

Dr. Berger has spent over 15 years studying how social influence works and how it drives products and ideas to catch on. He's published dozens of articles in top-tier academic journals, consulted for a variety of Fortune 500 companies, and popular outlets like the New York Times and Harvard Business Review often cover his work.

Episode 141: Jonah Berger - The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Behavior

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The Learning Leader Show

"With great insight, Jonah Berger removes the cloak of invisibility from powerful sources of influence and resolves fascinating mysteries of human behavior." Robert Cialdini, author of Influence

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• Creating a sense of kinship or familiarity leads to sustained excellence
• How the best leaders create a sense that "we've known each other a long time"
• Why you should say "Nice to see you" instead of "Nice to meet you"
• Successful negotiators mimic and imitate the people across from them (sometimes unconsciously)
• Waiters earn a 70% higher tip if they repeat the customer's order back to them verbatim
• The importance of emulating the person you are speaking with (in order to influence)
• Mimicry works because people aren't aware it's happening
• Why expensive products don't always use logos
• How older siblings provide a point of imitation and why younger siblings tend to be better at sports
• The power of "playing up" against greater competition
• Why comparing yourself to others is actually a good thing to do
• As leaders, we should always be learning -- That's the core of being a leader
• Why as a young manager you need to focus on collaboration -- Ask others for help
• Learning Leader = "I loved it. Merging of Learning and Leadership. Helping others learn. Serving them.

"Be Optimally Distinct"

Continue Learning:

• Go To: JonahBerger.com
• Follow Jonah on Twitter: @j1berger
• Read: Invisible Influence
• To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

You may also like these episodes:

Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon

Episode 082: Dan Pink – The Science of Motivation, Legendary Writer & Ted Talk

Episode 086: Seth Godin – How To Become Indispensable & Build Your Tribe

Episode 107: Simon Sinek – Leadership: It Starts With Why

Did you enjoy the podcast?

If you enjoyed hearing Jonah Berger on the show, please don't hesitate to send me a note on Twitter or email me.

Episode edited by the great J Scott Donnell

Bio From JonahBerger.com

Why do some things catch on while others fail? What makes online content viral? And why do some products, ideas, and behaviors get more word of mouth than others? Professor Jonah Berger examines the behavioral science that underlies these questions. He examines how people make decisions, how ideas diffuse, and how social influence shapes behavior.

Berger is a Marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published dozens of articles in top-tier academic journals, and popular accounts of his work frequently appear in popular outlets like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Science, Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Wired, Business Week, The Atlantic, and The Economist. His research has also been featured in the New York Times Magazine's "Year in Ideas." Berger has been recognized with a number of awards for both scholarship and teaching, including various early career awards and being named Wharton's Iron Prof (an award for awesome faculty research).

Dr. Berger has helped all sorts of companies and organizations get their stuff to catch on. From Fortune 500 companies to small start-ups, and multinationals to non-profits, Berger has helped drive new product adoption, sharpen effective messaging, and develop marketing strategy.