Episode 93

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Published on:

22nd Mar 2023

How Do We Really Build Human Connection?, Susan McPherson - CEO, author

Susan McPherson is a serial connector, angel investor, and corporate responsibility expert. She is the founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a communications consultancy focused on the intersection of brands and social impact. She is the author of The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Relationships (McGraw-Hill). Susan has 30+ years of experience in marketing, public relations, and sustainability communications, speaking regularly at industry events including Massachusetts Conference for Women, BSR, DLD, Worth Women and Techonomy, and contributing to the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Forbes. She has appeared on NPR, CNN, USA Today, The New Yorker, New York Magazine and the Los Angeles Times.

I met Susan through the Outlier Project where she was such an engaging speaker. I was intrigued because she literally wrote a book on the art of creating strong connections with others. In this episode, we discuss what her parents did so well to build lasting bonds with people, a framework to think about on building your own connections, and subtle things you can do to get people engage with you. All the while mixing in stories from Susan's career as a communications consultant, and author, and a CEO. This is one you'll be going back and recording for notes.

Key Moments:

05:13 - The importance of active listening and showing people that you truly are listening.

07:58 - The art of human connection

22:35 - Eleven questions to break the ice. The "Gather, Ask, Do" Methodology

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About the Podcast

Sell By Being Human
On the Sell By Being Human podcast, award-winning sales professional Alex Smith provides the proven way to harness your innate human skills like empathy, curiosity, and kindness to learn how to sell and navigate the sales journey.
This is where human connection and sales meet. You may be someone whose success depends on influence, negotiation, and your ability to create change, but you may reject aggressive sales tactics. Maybe you feel stuck in corporate "autopilot," knowing your best asset is your genuine personality, but you struggle to use it to get what you want. Then this channel is for you.

It will teach you how to close the gap between wanting to be ethical and feeling pressured to sell aggressively. You’ll also learn actionable strategies for translating emotional intelligence into high-trust results. Join Alex and top guests, including NY Times bestsellers, keynote speakers, and global founders, as they prove that being truly human is the ultimate sales advantage.

About your host

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Alex Smith

Alex Smith is a seasoned sales professional and podcast host who champions a human-first approach to selling. With nearly two decades of experience, he explores how empathy, curiosity, and genuine connection drive influence in everyday life. Through his podcast, he highlights stories from people across all professions, showing that anyone can persuade and create impact simply by being human.