Dear {{ first name | Legend}},
Quick question for you: Why does it feel so hard to get people (including yourself) to actually do what you want?
I’ve worked with many leaders over the 11 years as a brand strategist with a front row seat to how they influence and lead. Most recently I heard this:
“Let’s not psycho-analyze our customers, let’s just give them the benefits.”
I found that so odd, because this is from the head of commercial of a startup, not an engineer. And it wasn’t just how he persuaded customers, it was also how he influenced his team as well.
Then it hit me…
Even though we all influence (our teams, our colleagues, our bosses, our family members, our friends etc.)
We all do with a preference for a particular style.
That head of commercial probably did really well persuading some customers with pure logic and have been doing it since.
But I’m willing to bet that the same type of influence focused on using logic didn’t work well in other cases. That got me asking some questions:
Were they aware of their own influence stye? Would they have been able to shift their styles if they did? Would they have gotten a better result?
Over time, after analyzing hundreds of leaders, I started to see a pattern:
people tend to have their preference for influencing others (and themselves) in some distinct buckets.
Some through decisiveness.
Some through clarity.
Some through logic.
Some through story.
Some through trust and connection.
None of these are better than the others.
But I do believe that when we don’t recognize our default style — especially under pressure — we may miss certain opportunities where a change of style might alter the final outcome.
As personal development expert Jim Rohn used to say “if you want things you change, you have to change.” And my assertion is that if you don’t know who you are, how can you change? Self-awareness is the great unlock to life’s many problems.
So over the past 7.5 months, I carried out research across cognitive psychology, behavioral science, communication theory, social cognition, and decision-making, coming up with five distinct styles of influence.
To spare you from all the work, I’ve developed a short assessment to see which style(s) you have a natural preference for.
It takes an average of about 3-5 minutes (someone actually got it done in 2 min and 5 seconds!), and it shows:
Your preferred style(s)
How you naturally influence others,
What to watch out for,
and why certain strategies feel obvious to you while others don’t.
Most people finish it thinking: “Oh… that explains a lot and this is how I can leverage it further.”
👉 Take the Five Influence Styles assessment here:
[Take the quiz →]
You’ll get your results immediately, plus a personalized PDF report emailed to you.
You’ll see the strengths behind your natural style.
You’ll understand the blind spots that quietly shape your decisions.
You’ll learn how your style influences others and how others influence you.
You’ll get practical ways to use your strengths more intentionally.
And you’ll learn the unique strengths of special combinations (High-High combos)
A quick note if you’re curious to go deeper
For a small group of early readers, I also put together an Early Supporter Edition of an Influence Styles Master Guide.
202 pages of searchable and dynamic content built on Notion (you will also have lifetime access to updates and research results — I am conducting research to get more data on how influence styles are shaped by the environment and what types of professions correlate with which styles.)
Deep dive into every influence style
Blind spots and vulnerabilities
How to influence all other styles
18 style specific tactics to influence yourself + others
17 scripts and 4 advanced tools to communicate your style’s value
and more...
The final master guide will be at least $39.
For the first 100 early supporters, it’d just be $17.
If that’s interesting, you’ll see the master guide after the assessment.
No pressure either way.
The free assessment and personalized report alone is genuinely useful.
More soon! I’m super excited that this is finally LIVE! I’ve been working on it for so many months, and having to keep it under wraps has genuinely been agonizing.
Howie
P.S. Go take the free assessment and find out your preferred influence style!
Don’t miss: The Influence Anyone Podcast
What if your inability to look away from your phone isn’t a lack of discipline but a predictable feature of the human brain?
In this episode, I break down the hidden psychological forces behind the attention economy, revealing why unfinished stories, open loops, and curiosity gaps quietly control what we watch, read, and remember
We explore:
Why your brain treats unfinished ideas like open browser tabs it has to close
How the Zeigarnik Effect and curiosity gaps power social media, Netflix, and modern marketing
The three types of curiosity leaders, creators, and communicators can use to capture—and hold—attention ethically
If you want to understand why people can’t stop scrolling, why attention always comes before influence, and how to design messages that are impossible to ignore, this episode will permanently change how you think about communication.