617: Pitch Like Hollywood with Peter Desberg

On today’s episode, I’m joined by Peter Desberg, clinical psychologist and co-author of the book Pitch Like Hollywood, which shows you how to use the elements that sell classic Hollywood pitches in your life. Peter is a Professor Emeritus at California State University and recipient of the Distinguished Teacher Award and the Outstanding Professor Award. He is the author of twenty-three books and has been quoted in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, and The New York Times. He has also consulted for companies including Apple, Boeing, and Toyota in the areas of pitching persuasion and corporate presentations. Peter’s here today to talk about pitching with the power of Hollywood, overcoming stage fright, and using storytelling to make yourself more persuasive.We begin with Peter discussing how Hollywood pitches use emotion, instead of dry data and statistics, to hook people’s attention and then employ a three-act structure to keep them engaged. He then demonstrates how the same elements can be used in any industry to create persuasive and engaging pitches and gives some tips on how to get an audience’s attention. I then ask Peter about stage fright—his clinical specialty—and he discusses the factors that cause it and how fear is the common driver behind it. Moving on, we talk about the Hollywood numbers game, professional influencers, and how social media has reduced the value of a person to how many followers they have. And finally, Peter answers my favorite question to ask guests, about how he uses his difference to make a difference, stating that his mission is to help people with great ideas be heard in a world where not-so-good ideas are being listened to way too much.Episode Highlights:The psychology of persuasion and building credibilityThe emotional power of a Hollywood pitchThe three-act pitchStage fright and finding confidenceThe predictors of stage frightThe Hollywood numbers gameInfluencers and the psychology of a person’s valueThe importance of storytellingPitching as a conversationPeter’s co-writer Jeffrey Davis and the art of collaborationConflict in storytellingHow Peter uses his difference to make a differenceLinks:Pitch Like Hollywood: https://desbergdavis.com/product/pitch-like-hollywood/Connect with Tayo Rockson and the As Told By Nomads Podcast on:Personal Website: https://tayorockson.comUYD Management: https://uydmanagement.com/UYD Collective: https://tayorockson.com/uyd-collectiveLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tayorockson Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcastTwitter: https://twitter.com/TayoRockson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.