Dr Mike Clayton
Hi, I'm Mike Clayton. Thank you for visiting my website.
I am a business speaker, and I write books about the kind of personal and business skills I have needed throughout my career. I have spent the last twenty years studying and learning this stuff and nothing gives me more pleasure than sharing it.
You will find a lot of my writing on this website too - in my blog and in some of the materials you can download from the Resources pages. I hope you enjoy it and will want to contact me.
Best regards
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Brilliant Influence Blog
The Power of Questions: Seven Tips
Changing my mind is difficult for you to do. But I do it all of the time. So one of the most powerful ways for you to change my mind is to ask me questions. When I answer them, you … Continue reading
Posted in Brilliant Influence, Handling Resistance
Tagged influence, persuasion, qusetions, resistance
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Substance or Impression?
“Both” say researchers Melanie Dempsey (of Ryerson University) and Andrew Mitchell (of the University of Toronto). Their 2010 study* had three stages. Stage 1 They exposed experimental participants to hundreds of screen images. Among the images were images linked to … Continue reading
Pulling Faces
Try an experiment – probably it’s best to do it when nobody is looking. See if you can quickly make a facial expression of happiness. Easy? Try this one: sadness. Let’s keep going: here are a few more to try: … Continue reading
Posted in Brilliant Influence, Image
Tagged body language, emotion, facial expressions, influence, persuasion
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It’s not just the question: it’s how you ask it
There is a lot of interest on the news channels for how the Scottish Government wants to frame the question for its proposed referendum on Scottish devolution. Does it really matter, as long as the question is clear? The answer … Continue reading
When Jiminy Cricket loses his voice
When you are about to lie, or break your word, your conscience dives in to make you feel uncomfortable. This is what psychologists call “cognitive dissonance” and what I call “the Jiminy Cricket effect” – after Pinocchio’s friend. The question is, can … Continue reading
… and then there were Four
The advance copies of Brilliant Project Leader arrived on Tuesday morning and they are looking excellent. It is published today, on 17 November and Amazon UK are promising availability from 23 November. This is my fourth book in the Brilliant … Continue reading
Young Apprentice 2011 – 2: Presenting Skills and the Perfect Storm
There was a lot of interest to pick out of last night’s Young Apprentice, so let’s get the facts out of the way. The teams, Atomic (a slightly depleted boys’ team) and Kinetic (the girls) were set the task to … Continue reading
Posted in Brilliant Influence, Presentation Skills, Young Apprentice
Tagged Ben Fowler, Control Fallacy, Gbemi Okunlola, Harry Hitchens, Harry Maxwell, Haya Al Dlame, Hippo bottle holder, James McCullagh, leadership, Lewis Roman, Lord Sugar, over-confidence trap, perfect storm, presentation, presenting skills, rutting staglets, Susan Ma, Young Apprentice 2011, Zara Brownless
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The Power of Voice, Part 2
Let’s resume… In Part 1, we met Steve Hudson, creator of the Hudson Voice Technique. This is a systematic process for using your voice like a precision tool to convey emotion and conviction, draw your listener in, and enhance memory … Continue reading
Posted in Brilliant Influence, Voice
Tagged Hudson voice technique, influence, speaking, Steve Hudson, Voice Master
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A Bigger Bite
What is management without vision and inspiration? The sad news about Steve Jobs’ untimely death has spurred more blogs than anyone has the time to read, so just a short blog and a simple observation. Making the complex seem easy … Continue reading
Posted in Brilliant Influence, Exciting thinkers, Influencers, Leadership, Wisdom
Tagged Steve Jobs
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The Power of Voice, Part 1
Voice can Influence You only have to hear the clear, commanding tones of some of the finest actors – men and women – to believe in the power of the voice to influence. Albert Mehrabian’s famous (and much abused) formulation … Continue reading
Posted in Brilliant Influence, Voice
Tagged Hudson voice technique, influence, Mehrabian, persuasion, Red Flag words, Steve Hudson, voice, Voice Master
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