Masterclass in Ethical Persuasion and Leadership with TEDx Speaker and Communication Expert Savvas Trichas Ph.D | Ep 19

Are you looking to deepen your connections and enhance your ability to influence those around you?

This conversation will take you on a journey through the nuances of human behavior, connection, and self-improvement.

Leadership and communication are the central themes, dissected from multiple angles by best selling author and Tedx Speaker Savvas Trichas Ph.D; he holds a Ph.D. in Human Resource Management and Marketing and has collaborated with several prestigious universities in the US and Internationally.

At the start, Dr. Ioannou and Savvas explore the power of body language and its impact on our self-perception and interaction with others. They discuss intriguing concepts like the power pose and its hormonal effects, offering insights into how you can consciously influence your emotional states.

Chapters:
08:06 - The Power To Influence Yourself And Those Around You
11:06 - Burying a $1 Million Dollar Bentley
17:26 - Medical Student Syndrome
24:10 - Why You Avoid Asking for What You Want
29:28 - How Servers Increased Tips by 21%
33:55 - Public Speaking Creates Strong Connections
45:17 - Using The "Crazy Demand Principle" To Get a Yes

The conversation then shifts to the complexities of influence in various settings, including personal relationships and business. Savvas shares studies such as the zoo experiment, illustrating how influence can be wielded effectively and ethically.

The discussion about how misinformation spreads and the responsibility that comes with the power of influence is both timely and thought-provoking. This episode is a goldmine for current and aspiring leaders seeking to deepen their understanding and approach to leadership.

Press play to explore the depths of influence, mental health, and leadership in what promises to be an enlightening and transformative listen.

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Chapters

• 8:06 The Power to Influence Yourself And Those Around You
• 11:06 Burying a $1 Million Dollar Bentley
• 17:26 Medical Student Syndrome
• 24:10 Why You Avoid Asking for What You Want
• 29:28 How Servers Increased Tips by 21%
• 33:55 Public Speaking Creates Strong Connections
• 45:17 Using The "Crazy Demand Principle" To Get a Yes

Transcript

Hélène Ioannides [00:00:00]:
Welcome to HealthPod, your self development hub

Savvas Trichas [00:00:03]:
on mental health, psychology, and spirituality. In order to influence yourself and others, sometimes you'll you need to be a little bit crazed. When we talk about body language, we think about 2 interactions, what we convey to others and what other convey to us, but there is a third interaction. What we convey to us. Everybody communicates, but only a few people connect. And when you learn to connect, you can influence people. We can influence people when we show them that we care. Trust is the most expensive asset in leadership.

Savvas Trichas [00:00:46]:
It takes years to build and just seconds to lose, if you don't trust a messenger, you won't trust the message. Only when things change inside you, things will change around

Savvas Trichas [00:01:11]:
Hello, everyone. My name is doctor Stephanos Ioannou. I'm a psychophysiologist, And I specialize on emotional disorders as well as relationship coaching. For those of you who'd like to learn more about me and what I do as a living, Do not forget to check my website as well as my social media presence for free self help content. Today, I have with me Sabas Trijas who has a PhD in leadership and works at the Ministry of Education. He will be sharing with us today his wisdom in regards to how we can influence people as well as ourself to convey our message clearly, and tell stories that will help you inspire other people's lives. Stay tuned. So I have been following you a while on social media now, and, I have been magnetized by your content.

Savvas Trichas [00:02:06]:
You use a lot of examples from daily life that make things relatable to each and every one of us. And, something that I truly enjoy whenever you do is that when you use examples from the animal kingdom That translate into human life because I'm a big animal lover, nature lover myself. So I find, the curiosity of the child within me to dig deeper into what you're saying. And something that stood out for me that you've put a couple of months ago was the example that you've, communicated in regards to the geese whenever they fly. Can you tell us a little bit more about that example?

Savvas Trichas [00:02:48]:
Yes. Of course. First of all, thank you for the invitation. It's a huge honor, saying such a kind words from you because I'm a huge one of you, and, of course, you and Helene have been been doing so many good stuff, so keep up the amazing work. Now for the geese, it's impressive how intelligent animals can be in their own evolutionary perspective. So when geese fly, they use this b type formation, which is has been pointing just a little bit up, which is, in accordance with the law of aerodynamics. So when you go pointy and up, you create such aerodynamic, which means that the point, the corner, the top corner, we get most of the air, while the the back ends Get less of the air. So the leader of the pack would go up to the corner, and they would struggle and put their their best until they fail.

Savvas Trichas [00:03:54]:
When they're about to fail, they fly all the way back to get some rest and another strong goose would get into the front and get the leader position. So so many good lessons from that. One lesson, leadership is all about teamwork. There is no one in leadership. Leadership is a team. So they will exchange the leadership. They will take the struggle. And when they appeal that my work is done here, I cannot provide anymore, they give the leadership up.

Savvas Trichas [00:04:26]:
Wow.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:04:26]:
Wow. This is so impressive, and the lessons that we can learn just by being present and actually having the eyes to watch, appreciate, and study what's around us, it could teach us so many things about ourself, about leadership, and about influence, which brings us to the topic that we will be discussing today. Now we've can kind of dived into certain different examples right now, but, I would like to know a little bit more about you and the people that might be watching us that might not have stumbled on your social media presence.

Savvas Trichas [00:05:00]:
Mhmm. That

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:05:00]:
is fantastic. Would you like to tell us a little bit more about yourself? You have a PhD in leadership. Mhmm. And, what drove you Into going into this, what what were those things within you that made you wanna learn more about what makes a good leader influence. Man, when you ask that kind of question, I feel that I'm I'm on the chair,

Savvas Trichas [00:05:28]:
and you're analyzing me. So wait. Wait. I feel like I could get a free course. Anyway, answering to your question. Yeah. My PhD was on leadership and facial expressions. Okay.

Savvas Trichas [00:05:38]:
So that was the 2 areas that fascinated me. Why? Because I was a very shy kid Okay. Doctor, I was a very shy kid. So, but at the same time, I was mesmerized by the people who could talk, and you and they will inspire you and motivated you and and drive you to do things. So I wanted to be that guy. Imagine a little kid that admire something and afraid the same thing. So I I I only knew one way to conquer that knowledge is to study it. And that was my PhD.

Savvas Trichas [00:06:15]:
I was studying human behavior. I was studying body language. I was studying leadership. And after 15 years, I have transformed myself. And that is why what we are going to be doing here today. Fantastic. With our discussions, we're and to show some science based knowledge on how people can transform their lives the way I

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:06:36]:
this is what we one. And I wanna tell you that I'm I'm in absolute admiration of you because by you admitting that you were a shy kid. And Here, I wanna add something that you're also a public speaker, and you're a phenomenal at it. You've participated in TEDx talks, And I've watched your talks as as well, and I was like, woah. This guy has some very good examples to share with the world. And Something that people might not know is that when it comes to public speaking, usually public speaking ranks among the the biggest fears that anyone could ever have in their life, followed by death and then loneliness. So public speaking is petrifying for most people, and I'm so happy to see a person that has recognized, let's say, his own points of improvement, because I don't wanna call it weakness, his own points of improvement, and you took Took action for those things. Mhmm.

Savvas Trichas [00:07:37]:
So Can I add something to you?

Savvas Trichas [00:07:40]:
Yes. Go

Savvas Trichas [00:07:40]:
ahead. It's like this great quote, it says that your brain never stop works from the day you were born until you get on stage I'm talking public. Woah. Okay. Okay. That's great. That's great. Now

Savvas Trichas [00:07:59]:
I wanna know more about

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:08:06]:
how does this this this area of influence Relate to to mental health. And, and, obviously, you're we're here to uplift people's people's lives. What are those tips that you have for that you would like to share with us? Many, many tips, and we're going to get into this as we talk. But, first of all, answering to your first part of the question, how does that does that relate to mental health, when you have the power to influence yourself and those around you, that means that you can create healthy relationships, healthy relationship with your own, mindset, but with the people around you, influence them in a good way to do things that will create mutual gain and influence yourself to feeling better, to reacting better to situation, you of all people know that, and we have been discussing that many, many times. The power to influence ourself starts from the within. Right? Absolutely. And What are those practices that let's say, how do you influence? I know that, this is is also part of

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:09:27]:
of the theme that we have for today, but how did you first manage to influence yourself before you managed to influence other people through your storytelling abilities. Influence myself. Okay. The first thing I I the

Savvas Trichas [00:09:46]:
the 1st tactic I use to influence myself is by, meditating and reading a lot of stuff, reading other people wisdom, learning from other people's mistakes. But because this is a huge, huge conversation, I would like to to begin with something crazy Yes. Let's get into the tips of influence. Right? So in order to influence yourself and others, sometimes you'll you need to be a little bit crazy. Mhmm. And that brings me to the 1st story I have here To share with you.

Savvas Trichas [00:10:21]:
Great. Great.

Savvas Trichas [00:10:21]:
It's a story with the billionaire that buried that almost buried his Bentley. You know that story?

Savvas Trichas [00:10:28]:
Now why would someone do that?

Savvas Trichas [00:10:30]:
It's about the the billionaire called, Sekino Scarpa. Okay. K. That guy gather the media, the press, everybody to his mansion because he wanted to bury his Bentley in his backyard. He was inspired by the pharaoh, the Egyptians. So he had these big ropes, and they were lowering the bentley half a $1,000,000 worth bentley in a Tomb, and he would he said that, okay. Why the fataos are bearing the most valuable assets with them? I want to do that too. And he was the most hated man in Brazil for doing that.

Savvas Trichas [00:11:06]:
He was arrogant. People are starving, and you're betting your Bentley. They hated that. And just about before the Bentley hit the ground, he stopped the ceremony and took everybody in his mansion. And and he told them his words, everybody knows that buying this car is a waste, and it's crazy. Yet, most of us choose to bury something much more valuable than this car, our organs. So this whole act, this whole scheme was a trick to make people more sensitive and more aware that we bury our organs, our most precious things in the whole world. We bury them with us in our tomb while while we could donate them.

Savvas Trichas [00:11:53]:
So it was all about donating organs. Wow. And, he went from 0 to hero. From the most hated man in Brazil, he became one of the most, powerful philanthropist slash icon at the same day, the donors the the donations of Oregon went up to 32% increase on that very day. You know? And as Chris Brown once said, you will never be old and wise if you were never young and crazy. So influence sometimes is all about being intense, doing things that will shake things up, being a little bit crazy, and then you can cause influence.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:12:41]:
Oh, to that. My god. That's such a fantastic story that you've just shared with us. What a fantastic marketing strategy. You create questions. You create certain emotions in people because the human mind is like a a parachute. If you don't create emotions, He doesn't open up to receive. And this person opened the parachute for each one, and then he managed to implant what he wanted the message to be to be, to communicate, what the he wanted to communicate to the world.

Savvas Trichas [00:13:16]:
Well, I'm I'm stealing that. Right? Yeah. Go ahead. You, but I'm stealing the parachute parachute emotion. It it's so fascinating what you've shared with us. I'm so excited that, for everyone that is gonna watch this episode because you had so much value in in the in these stories.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:13:32]:
So this is obviously the most crazy story that I've heard, what about words? Can we influence our world with the words that we use? Because We hear a lot about NLP, neuro linguistic programming. Right? We hear about be mindful of the way you code your reality. I think Bruce Lee was the person that said, be very careful for the way that you speak to yourself Because words have a certain power, and and what we know is that spelling spell. You cast a spell whenever you speak certain sentences or certain words. So can words influence our world?

Savvas Trichas [00:14:18]:
Of course, they can. Yes. Let let me give you an example. I went into a meeting the other day, and somebody wanted to see me. 1st words I care of her mouth. Really sorry to waste your time. Why start with sorry? Why apologize for something that can potentially be valuable? The obvious alternative would be thank you for your time. You still show gratefulness.

Savvas Trichas [00:14:45]:
Yeah? But you are not apologizing for something you didn't do. There is power in the words we use. There is power. There is this, amazing story with Steve Jobs. You know, when Steve Jobs was, was looking for a powerful CEO, for a very capable CEO to hire, he immediately go to, John Skelly. You know? But John Skelly at that time, he was the CEO of PepsiCo, was a 2,000,000,000 dollar industry at the moment. So it was a huge backstep for Steve Scully to abandon his job and go with Steve Jobs. Right? And he said no, obviously.

Savvas Trichas [00:15:22]:
But they became friends, and they were hanging out. And one day one day, Steve Jobs, as they were talking, he told him, man, are you going to come with me and change the world, or do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life? And John Scully says that those 2 words, sugar, water, made him think that, man, am I wasting my life here? Am I built for something bigger? And he quitted a big time job to go with Steve Jobs and also change his life, words create worlds. It's one of my favorite quotes about words. Words create worlds. The words we use create the words we live in. That's magic. That's magic. There was a a little bit of a dark plot, though, On behalf of Steve Jobs Yeah.

Savvas Trichas [00:16:22]:
He literally shredded this guy's world. Mhmm. My Goodness. I have some body language also if you wanna share with me. Yes. Yes. Yes. We talked about self influence.

Savvas Trichas [00:16:34]:
Right? Yes.

Savvas Trichas [00:16:35]:
Right before that. So, you know, body language was my world for a long time. It was the the it was a big part of my PhD. So what I did was that I was studying facial expression, I was studying the anatomy of the human face. And as I was studying the anatomy, I was reading about all these diseases, about the strong headaches might mean that, about the tweaking that might mean this. And, after a while, I started experiencing symptoms of the diseases I was studying. Mhmm. And I got worried.

Savvas Trichas [00:17:12]:
Am I having a stroke now? I'm like, you know Mhmm. And I went into my doctor, and he laughed when I talked to him about that. He told me, don't worry about it. There is these things called the medical student

Savvas Trichas [00:17:25]:
Syndrome.

Savvas Trichas [00:17:26]:
Syndrome. Yeah. It's a it's a thing that the medical student, we'll get in the 2nd years of their study, when they're studying disease, when they feel that they're sick, but it's not the same as hypochondriac, not the same thing. He told me that you are actually being extra sensitive on the sensations of that part of the, of your body that you're studying. So if I'm feeling, quite a bit of a headache, my mind explodes that feeling and it thinks that, oh, it's a it's a migraine. You know? And it's a medical so what am I getting at? When you put information inside you, you get influenced by that information, and you might even cos psychosomatic reactions as you more than anyone should know. And I have 2 more about the body language. You know the the power poses study by Annie Carey

Savvas Trichas [00:18:22]:
Mhmm.

Savvas Trichas [00:18:22]:
That was a brilliant phenomenon what we can cost to ourself. Because when it when we talk about body language, we think about 2 interactions, what we convey to others and what other convey to us. But there is a third interaction. What we convey to us. So any kind of people do like this, open, expand their bodies that called power poses and they measured 2 kid 2, 2 key hormones, Cortisol and testosterone.

Savvas Trichas [00:18:52]:
Mhmm.

Savvas Trichas [00:18:53]:
And when people were doing this, when they were they were doing this, they would increase their testosterone No way. The dominant hormone the dominance hormone leadership, confidence, stuff like that, and decrease the cortisol hormone, which is the hormone of stress. And then they put the same people, shrink their body. And guess what? Reversed.

Savvas Trichas [00:19:19]:
Universe.

Savvas Trichas [00:19:19]:
So they when we shrink our body, we increase the cortisol, we increase our stress, and we decrease our testosterone. We decrease how dominant and confident with fear. And that's magic.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:19:31]:
Impressive.

Savvas Trichas [00:19:32]:
And that study was reinforced with the Penn study. Do you know that that pen can make you happier? Let me show you how. So if you hold the pen using your teeth only, without the lips the lips touching the pen, you can make yourself happier. Here, there was this study that they they connected wires coming out of the the subject faces, and they went into a machine called electromiography. Mhmm. And when they bite a pen, the there is this muscle here called orbicular orbicularis ogule. Mhmm. Which is the same muscle that is activated when we feel authentic joy, when we smile with all our heart.

Savvas Trichas [00:20:18]:
And when you do this, you are, like, simulating Mhmm. Your joy. Mhmm. And you feel happier. Yep. Yep. But when they put the same people doing this, they didn't feel anything. What am I getting at? You can cause feelings to yourself.

Savvas Trichas [00:20:36]:
You can influence your yourself so when you're having a public speaking event or when you're having an interview, when you're having a date, don't shrink yourself. Use more smiles. You can influence yourself. You can hack yourself feeling better. That's why when I have a speech, you will find me in the restroom doing all power poses and smiling to my mirror. When people see me in there, they must think I'm crazy. Oh, that's so good. That's so good.

Savvas Trichas [00:21:07]:
But you'll never be

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:21:08]:
I think you were sharing that, actually. This is a very Interesting study that you've just shared with us. And I remember the way they've, they investigated the study was to give them comics. And by doing this small alterations in the in the grip of the pen, people that were reading a comic and they had the pen between their He rated the comic as much funnier than the than the ones that did it the other way. And it's amazing to me because our body holds so much innate wisdom, And, most of the times, we are unable to harness that or we forget. We become so ingrained in our own thoughts being eaten up by our own mind that we do not move our body in a way that is gonna help our psychology. And, another thing to add on this is that they say that people that do botox, They are much happier because their whole face lifts up. Wow.

Savvas Trichas [00:22:14]:
I don't know exactly the citation of the study, but I believe that Google can definitely help our audience in regards to that.

Savvas Trichas [00:22:21]:
So food for thought for my crowd's feet here.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:22:25]:
It's, it's I don't know because I'm doing botox myself every now and then.

Savvas Trichas [00:22:34]:
I can't tell. Wow.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:22:36]:
It's been a year now. Okay. Maybe maybe I'm up for a retouch. That's right. So, Sabas, let me, There is something that, I have here written down for you. What is your number one advice to start getting the things that we want, because you gave us some examples on how we can change our emotional state by Doing our power poses and, also our face, and I would like you to share those studies with him. Maybe we could put it down on our on the comments.

Savvas Trichas [00:23:08]:
Of course. Number 1 advice. Yep. Excellent question. But let's play a game, shall we?

Savvas Trichas [00:23:15]:
Okay. Yes. Okay. Go ahead. I have

Savvas Trichas [00:23:20]:
I have €10 in my pocket. Okay? And I want to for you to convince me to give those €10 to you, use argumentation, persuasion, influence, whatever you want. Try to convince me to give it to you.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:23:36]:
Okay. It's gonna be tricky. I need to work on my sales techniques. Your, It looks that it's, it's fake. Would you like to give it to me to give you another one the same On the same value? Of course, you would give me 1 back. Oh, yes. Okay. Excellent.

Savvas Trichas [00:24:10]:
I I love it. I love it. The only thing is that you didn't get €10. You got this bill, but you did something that most of the people don't do. You asked. So when I do that with audiences, people would give me all these crazy details and statements, and they would tell me about their cat, that they need to buy a necklace, and they and they tell me that the their son needs immediately to get an ice cream or 2, 3 ice creams, and they need to get and they forget something really important, to ask. So my number one tip is to ask why. Because if you use statement, statement, statement, statements bring resistance.

Savvas Trichas [00:24:57]:
Questions bring answers. Mhmm. And in life, you don't get what you deserve. You get what you take, and you only take if you ask. So number 1 tip is don't forget to ask.

Savvas Trichas [00:25:13]:
Oh, wow.

Savvas Trichas [00:25:14]:
You earned

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:25:15]:
it. Thank you very much. It's the first time I'm getting paid, guys, in a podcast. Thank you very much. I'll take this. You, Sabas, for the beautiful example. Now There were there there was, my mind has kind of drifted into this state of why do people do not ask? Why are we hesitant to ask other people for for anything? It could be a bill. It could be help.

Savvas Trichas [00:25:49]:
It's like, as if that is our ego is inhibiting us From asking for help. Mhmm. And something that I mean, we've been programmed this way By our current social standards. Our current social standards, not the way that Society used to be. Mhmm. Mhmm.

Savvas Trichas [00:26:12]:
Very interesting observation. And my interpretation of this is that, first of all, we are afraid of getting rejected.

Savvas Trichas [00:26:20]:
Mhmm.

Savvas Trichas [00:26:20]:
K. Rejection is 1. But I I often see that in all kinds of relationship, we don't ask and we wait for the other person to assume what do we need to give them to us. I think about how how simple life could be if we just ask. Even in our sexual life, just ask. It might happen. You will never know. In our, in our relationship with our children, ask them to do what you want and your and learn your children and to ask you what they really want, most of the times, we get sideways to what we want.

Savvas Trichas [00:27:00]:
Mhmm.

Savvas Trichas [00:27:00]:
And all of the misinterpretation happen in that side side path, you know, it

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:27:08]:
sounds like manipulation. This this, it's it's like it's a crazy thing. We we do go we we go the full circle instead of just taking a straight line to get where where we want to. And, this manipulation that goes on all these sideway approach to things is as if that, we're all suffering from some form of personality disorder Mhmm. In which we're trying to exploit the other person. Are there any influence hacks in business that Follow a more direct line instead of this form of manipulation.

Savvas Trichas [00:27:53]:
Okay. We'll get into the the, the concept of manipulation in a while, but, since you asked about since you asked about business, I will tell you a wonderful example, which is on the blurry lines of manipulation

Savvas Trichas [00:28:10]:
Mhmm.

Savvas Trichas [00:28:10]:
And actual connections with the customer. So there is this, example in restaurants. And they gave waiters waitresses, chocolate, little chocolate. Just before the check, the waitress came, and she put 1 chocolate before handing on the bill. Once she did that, the bill went the the tips went up by 3.2% in comparison to when not giving the chocolate. Now the second condition was that the waitresses bring 2 chocolates, and it went up to 10%. The tips increased. And then they gave them 3 chocolates.

Savvas Trichas [00:28:53]:
And guess what? Nothing changed. It was about 10% increase.

Savvas Trichas [00:28:58]:
Mhmm.

Savvas Trichas [00:28:58]:
It was like giving 2 chocolates. Now listen to the fun part. They put the waitresses, bring 2 chocolates, then they went off to leave. They waited a they paused a bit. They scratched their heads, and then they came back and gave a 3rd chocolate. So it was again 3 chocolate, but now it was 2 plus 1. You know what I mean? Mhmm. That one is just for you.

Savvas Trichas [00:29:28]:
And the tips went off to an impressive 21% increase. What does that tell us? That we can influence people when we show them that we care, and I have a really, really nice quote here that from the William James, the famous philosopher for an, psychologist, the deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. Right? Now there is a big discussion here about how in in what extent are these that kind of hacks, as you call them, is a product of mali manipulation, or is it a way to connect with your customer? And if you want, we can talk about this now or later on in the discussion. No. I would like, yeah, I would like to to keep the flow. Okay. The conversation. Think about influence and everything we've said so far.

Savvas Trichas [00:30:29]:
Think about it as a hammer. You know a hammer. Right? You can use a hammer to build to fixing in your house. You can use a hammer to break a window. You can use a hammer to murder someone. And that's exactly how influence work. As they say in superhero movies, with great power comes great responsibility. Mhmm.

Savvas Trichas [00:30:52]:
So, yes, influence can be used to manipulate people, but it also can be used to build better relationships, to influence yourself to get better result with yourself so if someone wants to to use it for a bad cause, it's by all means, it's there. But once once you understand how important it is in your life, it's the equation of to use it or not, either you like it or not, you influence yourself and you influence people with it. It's the intentions at the

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:31:23]:
end of the day That define a good deed or a bad deed. Mhmm. And that's a very good, example there to to give. And, hearing you speak about the the chocolate and the and the tips, and this is something that we usually expect also in, In our culture as Greeks, that usually when whenever you finish your food, someone brings you the dessert some dessert or a short glass of a liquor. And as if it's for we we take it for granted in our culture. Right? But whenever we leave our country and someone does the same thing, we we appreciate it. We appreciate even more because it doesn't always happen. And this is nice what you're saying.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:32:11]:
I'm thinking, it's this innate level of of gratitude. I appreciate you. And we all want to be appreciated at the end of the day. So it it revolves around the the human principles of Being loved and being and being in service.

Savvas Trichas [00:32:31]:
Mhmm.

Savvas Trichas [00:32:34]:
Now I know that you do a lot of public speaking. Are there any tactics that you use there to, I don't know, draw people's attentions or we we said about how you hide yourself up or how you use your body to help you perform, but are there any specific tactics that you use to influence people? Many. Okay.

Savvas Trichas [00:33:00]:
Many, I won't we won't talk about everything now, but I I will tell you 2. Okay? Actually, this is a a game we play when I teach public speaking into my seminars, it's called the sniper. Okay. Do I have your attention? Yes. Yes. So imagine 20 people in a seminar or 50 people or 100 people. I put them all standing. I make them to stand.

Savvas Trichas [00:33:26]:
So you have a standing audience. And I take 1 audience member to play the game. He's a sniper or she's a sniper. And I tell them, you have 1 minute to talk about anything you like to talk. And when you deeply connect with 1 audience member 1 audience member, they need to sit down. That means you shot him with your connection. You know? Wow. They must be connected.

Savvas Trichas [00:33:55]:
So imagine that I'm talking to a public now I'm talking to an audience. And, Stefanos, do you feel the connection now? And I'm continuing talking. And when I turn to you, Stefanos, and if you don't feel the connection, I lean into you and use my body and try to get into you with my eye gaze. You feel the connection, you're supposed to sit down. 1 minute, you are supposed to do as many kills as you can in the audience, and that is a very intriguing activity for the for the people that are participating in the training because they understand the value connect of connection. That is that feeling when you get when you go to a good speech, when you say, oh, man. It's like he's talking directly to me. It's that's exactly that feeling.

Savvas Trichas [00:34:43]:
And, as John Maxwell says, everybody communicates, but only a few people connect. And when you learn to connect, you can influence people, and that is not a manipulation. You can you can talk to their souls like we are doing now. We are connected. And how do we do people connect?

Savvas Trichas [00:35:05]:
What do you what do

Savvas Trichas [00:35:06]:
you think makes people glued together? For me, is it's it's when they share it's when they share experiences Mhmm. Together. Now we are sharing an experience. And in in in public speaking, in in any of my speeches, I try to make it look like a conversation. I'm not talking from a podium far, far away. I will get down. I will play with the audience. I will talk to them.

Savvas Trichas [00:35:30]:
I will try to talk to their souls by using the experiences of everyday life and I have another tip for you. You will love this one also. I call this the full pause, the full body pause, actually.

Savvas Trichas [00:35:47]:
Mhmm. Mhmm.

Savvas Trichas [00:35:47]:
Now we all know about the value of pause. You know? Mhmm. When you pause, people can recollect their thoughts. You can create suspense and all this good stuff. But I see too many people pausing by not talking, but they continue moving in the stage and and they're doing all sorts of stuff with their body. When you pause, you need to freeze yourself. Because when when you freeze yourself, when you when you pause your body posture, when you pause your gestures, when you pause everything in your body, people will focus where? On your face. Let me give you example.

Savvas Trichas [00:36:27]:
Imagine a

Savvas Trichas [00:36:28]:
part of the face that they focus.

Savvas Trichas [00:36:30]:
Facial area. Facial area. Yeah. Imagine a a toddler playing no. Not a toddler. Imagine a 6 months years old baby and playing with their toys. You go and do like this. He he or she will look around, and he will focus on your face.

Savvas Trichas [00:36:48]:
Why? Because from a very engaged human beings know that the face will give an answer. So when you do that on stage, when you pause, people focus on your face. When you pause with your words, people will go into your face to look for an answer. Mhmm. That is where you want them to be because this is the most emotional part, the this is the most emotional part of our body. In many, many speeches, when I go to take the stage, you will see me saying nothing when they present me, I will work. I will plant my feet in the center of the stage. I will pause and look around, and then say good evening.

Savvas Trichas [00:37:38]:
So that pause allowed the audience to focus on my face to record the information from my emotional stage at that moment, my enthusiasm, my passion, my my eagerness to to go there and talk to them, and then I start talking. So I allow them to absorb all the information and the emotional content before I start talking. Nice.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:38:03]:
Nice. And this is so important because whenever we even the intonation of our voice. Let's say you're speaking, and slowly your tone goes down. Dopamine goes up, you enhance your auditory abilities, and, or you pause. People like, oh, what happened here? My my dopamine, is is it gonna go down or is it gonna go up? So it creates an anticipation, and that anticipation it is what is driving us to pay attention, whether that's our goal, our speaker. And this is extremely fascinating what you've shared with me right now, and and I will try and do that on stage as well, to be honest. Influence. The way that we, that we approach people.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:38:53]:
Is there any misinformation nowadays or false information?

Savvas Trichas [00:38:59]:
Yes. That is a big and very useful for our audience subject to talk about, all about it's all about the misinformation that is out there through social media and all this fake news that, we allowed to get into our brain processing, but I will start with an example so all this can make sense. Okay? I had this collaboration with the FBI National Associates in Cyprus, we did some deception detection, seminars. Mhmm. So I had to talk to interrogators Mhmm. On how to question subjects, how to detect liars and stuff like that was a very intriguing subject for me. So I I had to went through the literature really carefully, because I'm talking to people that do this every single day. So I was digging into the literature, and I found this very interested finding.

Savvas Trichas [00:39:58]:
Okay? It said that when people look up into the left, that means that they are telling the truth. That means they're recollecting memories so it's coming from a true place, while when people look up and to the right, that means that they're lying. They they are picking up things from their imagination. And it was awesome. And I found that in textbook and, in people that talked about lie detection and stuff like that. And when I went into the academic literature, I felt that this was all nonsense. It's not true. It's so attractive.

Savvas Trichas [00:40:45]:
It's so, it's so catchy and easy to say and easy to remember, that is not true. And what I'm talking about is that something that it's attractive and it's bold, and it's easy to remember, and it's shareable, if you say it enough times, it can be a reality. For interrogators, it can be a destructive reality. And if that reality is shared by a lot of people, it can be a cultural thing.

Savvas Trichas [00:41:16]:
Mhmm. Mhmm.

Savvas Trichas [00:41:17]:
And if that culture passes it on from culture to culture, it can be a tradition, which can be very dangerous because a tradition can be something you do without even knowing why you do it, without even knowing if it's correct or wrong, but you just do it because you were taught to do it. What I'm getting at is that with all that misinformation, it's good for us to do what I did. Dig dig into the literature. Dig into the academic just search it by yourself. Create an opinion by yourself. Have an open mind. An open mind is not an empty one.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:41:55]:
Yes. For sure. For sure. And and and what at least monks say say Even if they read a lot of books and if they participate in a lot of philosophical discussions, they say that I know nothing. Because if I admit to myself that that I know everything, it means that I will stop growing. It means that I will I'm gonna cocoon myself, and I'm I'm never gonna keep evolving or transforming And becoming bigger and bigger. And I would like to to speak to you more about, lie detection and, psycho paths and serial killers, which is a really fascinating topic. And I think that all of us wanna Really understand whether the person that is sitting opposite us, they're being truthful to us, and we're not catching ourselves as being fools Or being manipulated.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:42:57]:
Now because this is a question that I I've went into and maybe we're directing a little bit from our conversation at a personal level is that for me, no matter what happens is that love is the path. It doesn't matter if the person opposite you wants to manipulate you or cheat you. Because at the end of the day, the gap that exists within them, this black hole that is gonna suck everything in has nothing to do with Hey, guys. Thank you for watching. If you're enjoying this video, do not forget to hit the subscribe button. It would mean a lot to us. And I mean more about the emotional side of things, I'm not speaking about monetary incentives, and someone is tricking you into buying a product that is not

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:43:49]:
really Being the product that you need.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:43:51]:
Mhmm. So deception is definitely a a huge part that interests a lot of people. Mhmm. Don't know if you wanna add something there.

Savvas Trichas [00:44:02]:
I think that might be a different podcast. For now, I think that I have another example of influence for you if you want to share that. Yes. And, I think deception can be quite a long conversation, has a we have a lot of things to say, but it will be diverting a lot from the discussion, about the research that came in a zoo, and I'm telling you that because that has practical applications into our relationship with Arksis.

Savvas Trichas [00:44:33]:
Because it has animals.

Savvas Trichas [00:44:36]:
I You're gonna get this point.

Savvas Trichas [00:44:37]:
This point.

Savvas Trichas [00:44:38]:
Yeah. It has animals, but it's a human primate. So, there is this it's it's very interesting. There is a study that, went it took place in a zoo. Okay? This study took place in a zoo. So what they did was that they approached the researchers approached people and asked them to, escort in a 2 hour tour in the zoo, juvenile offenders, so they asked them to volunteer. How would you feel? Awkward. Awkward.

Savvas Trichas [00:45:17]:
Right? So most of the answer were no. Some of the people that really, really wanted to help, they said yes, but 1 and 2 in a 100. So what they did afterwards was that they applied the crazy demand principle. The crazy demand principle is that they approach people and ask them two demands, the first was if they could do that to escort in a 2 hour visit the juvenile offenders for 2 years in a row every week, which the it's a crazy demand, 100% of the people said no. But right after that, they said, okay. If you're not willing to do that, will you be willing to escort them just for today for 2 hours? And guess what? He said yes. Many, many, many, many people said yes because we are hardwired to say yes more often than not. Right?

Savvas Trichas [00:46:17]:
Mhmm.

Savvas Trichas [00:46:18]:
So when they burned their nose in the craze their their nose, not this nose, what they know in the crazy demand

Savvas Trichas [00:46:25]:
Right now.

Savvas Trichas [00:46:26]:
They feel that the second demand was a bargain. And and if you if you take a good look in your personal life, the crazy demand and the normal demand is all over the place. My son the other day wanted to buy a pet snake yes. That's right. A pet snake. In the glass, the pet snake. I'm terrified of snakes, and I tell him there is no way of putting a snake into the house, I'm terrified on them. And 2 hours afterwards, he came and asked me for a PlayStation game.

Savvas Trichas [00:46:56]:
Guess what Penn.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:46:58]:
You bought a PlayStation game?

Savvas Trichas [00:47:00]:
And I wonder if he heard me preparing about the crazy demand. Wow. That's that's, that's something great, actually. That's something great. And this is an accident and also a self tactic, isn't it? Mhmm. Because we

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:47:17]:
wanna be loved. We want to be appreciated. We want to be, accepted. And if you build a connection with a person, let's say, okay, I like Savvas. I wanna help him. He asked something from me, but that's a little bit higher from what I can offer at this point. But he asked me of something Lower. I'm gonna give you that because there is this connection

Savvas Trichas [00:47:46]:
Mhmm.

Savvas Trichas [00:47:47]:
Between us.

Savvas Trichas [00:47:47]:
And it seems like a. The

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:47:48]:
the they're lower. Like a bargain. Yeah. Definitely. For sure. Saba, I I wanna ask you. After 15 years of, researching the scientific literature and public speaking, What do you have to say about leadership? What what is your opinion?

Savvas Trichas [00:48:08]:
Excellent question. And, 3 things 3 things if I had to sum my knowledge up to 3 basic things, I would say these 3. The first is, when I when I began studying leadership, I was obsessed of defining leadership. 15 years later, I understand now that the defining leadership cannot be done. Mhmm. Cannot be done because leadership is different, but for different peoples for different people. So, what is spot on about leadership is that thing that the Warren Bennis, the father of leadership, told about leadership. He told that leadership is like beauty.

Savvas Trichas [00:48:53]:
It's hard to define, but you know it when you see it. That's the first thing. The second thing about leadership is that you cannot demand leadership. You need to earn it. Leadership is not position. It is action. And as the Afghan proverb says, if you think you're leading and no one is following, you're just taking a walk. Right? And the third thing is that trust is the most expensive asset in leadership.

Savvas Trichas [00:49:26]:
It takes years to build Mhmm. And just seconds to lose. Right? And, besides, if you don't trust the messenger, you won't trust the message. That's very important for leaders.

Savvas Trichas [00:49:41]:
It's huge.

Savvas Trichas [00:49:42]:
These 3 things. Wow.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:49:44]:
Wow. Now the last thing that I wanna ask you so that we can close this beautiful and so valuable conversation that we had today, Savvas, thank you so much for coming into our podcast. I I can only imagine the comments in regards to this episode and the value that people are gonna get by just watching our conversation today, this is definitely one of my favorite conversations that I had with with my guests Honor. And, I would like to to end this conversation with you sharing one quote that change your life or that you live by.

Savvas Trichas [00:50:37]:
One can I say 3? In 1 Okay. Yes. Can I

Savvas Trichas [00:50:41]:
say 3? Three quotes.

Savvas Trichas [00:50:44]:
The first has to be Dalai Lama's quote, yes, if you think you're too small to make a difference, try spending the night with a mosquito. You know? Don't underestimate yourself. Yeah. Nobody's too small to make a change. Absolutely. K. The second is from Lao Tze. It says that what the caterpillar calls the end of life, the rest of the world calls it the butterfly.

Savvas Trichas [00:51:14]:
What that means is that when you endure your darkest moments, you will get rewarded. It's nature's way, not my way. Look. Goosebumps. Mhmm. And the 3rd and final, it's my mantra for the last 2 or 3 years, is that only when things change inside you, things will change around you. Oh. Okay? And, I I I hear people complaining so much nowadays.

Savvas Trichas [00:51:46]:
Stop complaining about the things you didn't get because of the things you didn't do, start doing things for a change. If you want, if you dream about something, start doing something. Don't complain about something. Get it. Don't if you didn't get the results, it's because you didn't put the work in.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:52:06]:
Absolutely.

Savvas Trichas [00:52:06]:
Those 3 things.

Dr. Stephanos Ioannou [00:52:08]:
And, yeah, you cannot be jealous. You cannot be hateful if you've literally haven't done anything to attain The things that you've always wanted. Exactly. Saba, thank you so much. Thank you so much. For those of you that thinks that are mosquitoes and cannot make a huge change in people's lives, think again. Savvas, Thank you very much for today's conversation, and, I cannot wait

Savvas Trichas [00:52:38]:
to have you again. 30 seconds to thank you, Stefanos Angeline for the excellent events, the impeccable planning here, you really make people feel family, thank you, family, really make people feel at home. And, I'm a big fan of your work and the way you analyze things, the way you bring science and personal experience and the power of gratefulness into the equation, I will start I will, continue following your work, and let's go outside and say some more.

Hélène Ioannides [00:53:12]:
Thank you so much for watching this episode. It's Been an absolute pleasure filming it for you guys. If you like the work that we are putting out into the world, please make sure you like this video and you subscribe to our channel. It really helps the work that we do.

Savvas Trichas [00:53:26]:
And if you would like to follow our journey on our IG accounts as well as learn more about our services, we provide everything for you in the description below. Thanks for watching.