This content was created by Pete Alexander. This content was uploaded by Pete Alexander. This is a podcast episode titled "Episode 138: Winning at Business and Life with Chase Hughes" (PODCAST) recorded August 14, 2020. It is a short '6 questions in 7 minutes' interview hosted by Professor Pete Alexander with guest Chase Hughes (20-year US military veteran, founder of Applied Behavior Research, and bestselling author). The conversation covers applied behavior research, interrogation and persuasion training, people-reading for business and government, practical business advice (e.g., rising by lifting others vs. zero-sum thinking), a referral to Tom Albert of Measured Risk, and a personal first-job anecdote. Metadata includes the episode title, podcast content type, and thumbnail URL.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are, and what you do.
Hey Pete, my name is, uh, Chase Hughes. I served, uh, 20 years in the US military, and now I run a company called Applied Behavior Research where I teach advanced persuasion and people reading skills to businesses and government agencies. And I'm a number one bestselling author of a book called The Ellipsis Manual, which is a book I mostly developed for intelligence operatives to do human behavior stuff out in the field.
Chase, it's really great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in your industry?
I have an unusual industry— intelligence, interrogation, behavioral psychology, that kind of stuff. And I teach interrogation to government for a living and police, and I train civilians in advanced persuasion. And everybody from law firms to salespeople attend a lot of my courses. I can honestly say it, it never really gets old. And I've been obsessed with human behavior for a really long time, and that novelty around it has really never worn off for me. I really enjoy it. But I think a good thing about this industry is being able to see all the things that no one else can see.
Mm, I really can hear that passion in your voice, and the uniqueness of what you do is, is really phenomenal. I love it. Question number 3: I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
What I think would be the most powerful chapter in that book for people is, uh, How to understand people better. When I teach companies behavior profiling, how to read people, I think most people are really shocked and they realize they can't point to a single moving part of their business that doesn't heavily involve human behavior. And that's the courses that I typically teach. Uh, I, I start off with talking about the 3 critical failure points, and that's the failure to persuade someone to get your outcome, whether you're asking for a raise or sale, failure to read a situation or a person with greater clarity, or failure to be the person that you need to be to get the outcome that you want. So I'm asking, like, who would I need to be to get that type of result?
I think that's really insightful. Thank you. Question number 4: Other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice or or insight would you give to other business leaders?
You know, I see so many businesses and people, podcasters included, people that, that do YouTubes, that honestly believe they need to push other people down in order for them to succeed. Not that they enjoy it, but they honestly believe that that is a factor of success. And My entire business and my life runs on the principle that we rise by lifting others. And life is not— and business is not a zero-sum game. You know, in game theory and economic theory, zero-sum describes a situation which one person's gain is exactly balanced by another person's loss. And business, it's easy to view that way. But it is absolutely not that. There is a way to rise by lifting others, and it's not a zero-sum game.
Yeah, and it's, it's really good because I think about maybe a narcissistic personality would be someone who thinks that they're doing someone a favor by knocking them down. And as you're saying, it's, it's just, it's not necessary.
Yeah, or I need to, I need to talk badly about my competition. Or, you know, in order for me to succeed, other people have to fail. That's just the way the world works, is what people say. Other people have to fail. There's plenty of room for everybody who works their A off to succeed because there's not a whole lot of us.
True. That's great. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
I think one of the most visionary-minded people I've ever met in my life, and I trained some pretty high-power people, uh, is the CEO of an AI, artificial intelligence, company that surgically targets stuff for national security and intelligence work. And he's even restructured part of his AI to predict suicide based on online behavior, which is fascinating to me. Uh, he's the CEO of this company called Measured Risk, and his name is Tom Albert. And I would definitely put you guys in touch.
Thank you, I really appreciate that referral. I'll reach out to him. And our final question, question number 6: please tell me about your first job.
I've never spoken about this on any camera ever, and I go on front of a lot of cameras. So my first job I ever had was working at a Shell gas station. At the age of 16. And it was, my dad's friend owned it. But I was out there in overalls or coveralls every day, washing windshields, pumping people's gas for them, cleaning up after people. And it was a humbling experience that really taught me the value of hard work. And it also taught me one other important lesson. Since it was my dad's friend who gave me the job. He paid me more than I probably should have been earning. And I discussed my income with the janitor and maintenance guy of the gas station one time. I talked about it. I was 16. But he said, I don't make that much. I've been working here for 10 years. And I felt horrible. And that was one of the most embarrassing things I've ever done. And I learned a hard lesson there that not everybody makes the same amount of money. And it's, it's definitely not something you talk about.
It's a very powerful story. I appreciate you sharing that first job. And there really is a lesson there to be learned. So that's, that's really insightful as well. Thank you so much. And Chase, thank you for being on the show. How can people find you?
You can just type Chase Hughes into Google. Or you can go to the website, which is chasehughes.com. And I've got a brand new fiction book that I'd like to plug, which is right here. It's called Phrase 7, or you just type Chase Hughes in Amazon. Soon to be a television series.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. For more insights and ideas, please go to LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, or iTunes and search for the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
