**Eight Minute Listen **

Welcome to the HyperLeverage Podcast. On this series I’ll be taking you on a journey of discovery as I take deep dives into the concept and application of leverage in our daily lives, careers and businesses.

As children we are taught a simple story about Sir Isaac Newton and how he came to ‘discover’ gravity. Sitting under an apple tree, one of the apples fell on his head leading to an “AHA” moment whereby he put one and one together and came up with the concept of gravity.

It’s obviously a nice simple story to tell children. The truth of course is more complex.

If gravity is what keeps the world grounded and stabile, then leverage is the invisible grease that makes the world actually move. Similar to gravity – it’s an invisible energy that permeates everything and everywhere. 

It’s human nature to do the minimum but expect to get maximum results.  There are many cliched expressions we use for this. Whether it’s to ‘Work Smart’ or “Squeeze the most” out of something it really all boils down to a very simple concept. And that concept is called Leverage. The ability to utilize assets, resources, influence, information to attain desired results.

Whether it’s in business, in finance, investing or working with tools in a workshop, the power of leverage is often the determining factor between success and failure. The difference between getting maximum or optimum results or not being able to accomplish or complete a task.

But what is this mysterious thing we call Leverage? Is it a naturally occurring chemical element like iron or uranium? If so, someone would have already developed the mines to extract it or chemical processes to manufacture it. Is it a tool we can purchase at a store or online?  In many instances this is actually the case, as we use levers of all kinds in everyday life as well as at work, both in blue collar manufacturing as well as white color desk jobs.

Finally, Is it a skill set that we can be taught or can hone like playing a piano? Again, the answer is a definite yes. 

This podcast will explore all of these and other aspects of leverage in order to gain a deeper understanding of the concept, but more importantly to provide tools, exercises and real life relatable stories to inspire you to increase your own leverage – at home, in your career and at work.

Leverage is a multi faceted concept that manifests itself in a wide variety of ways and that has profound influence on how we lead our lives, our careers, our businesses and in a bigger macro sense, our friendships, relationships, societies and even our countries.

Links & Topics Covered in This Episode:

• Introduction to the HyperLeverage Podcast series
• What is leverage? What is Hyperleverage
• What’s up next

Because leverage in all of it’s different faces is the unseen power broker for why and often how things get down. It’s presence or lack thereof influences our decision making and how we utilize the different assets in our lives.

WHAT IS LEVERAGE?

LEVERAGE is the ability to influence a system or environment in a way that multiplies your efforts or magnifies your potential

And why is it important? Do you really have to ask? 

If you want to be the person who ‘works smart’, get more for less, puts in the minimum but reaps the maximum, you will need leverage – and lots of it.

In a world of ever changing dynamics, those individuals, businesses, organizations and yet-countries that possess the most leverage are in a position to affect change or adapt to change to their advantage.

Think of the Olympic wrestler who is pinned to the mat. His opponent has him in a choke hold pinned to the mat. His opponent has leverage over him. In this case physical leverage.  Every time the pinned wrestler tries to break the hold, his opponent can exert pressure in such a way that will cause severe pain or just simply restrict the physical movement. And once he has pinned the other wrestler to the ground, he does not have to be stronger or bigger to maintain his dominance in the match. He just has to know how to physically hold the other wrestler in a such a way that he can inflict the pain. 

Perhaps that might sound familiar to many of you. Especially if you ‘rough-housed’ as a kid. Perhaps you were the one that took advantage of your younger siblings that way. Or perhaps it was done to you.  In either case, we learn inherently from a young age the physical manifestation of leverage. 

The ultimate point of this example  is that the person with the leverage , in this case physical leverage, was in the superior and stronger position to get what they wanted.

This podcast is dedicated to stories and lessons on the power of leverage. For both good and bad.

Each podcast will feature a specific concept of leverage and explore it from a number of angles. What was the leverage point, how it was used and why it’s important to understand the underlying lesson of this leverage example.

The upcoming podcast episodes will be presented in a number of different formats, including conversations and interviews with individuals and how they used a specific type of leverage to accomplish their objectives or how leverage was used in their business for gain.

Each podcast will provide specific links to additional materials if any listener is interested in learning more on a specific topic.

And each podcast will eventually be recorded in audio and video format. The video podcast will provide additional information in the form of visuals, graphs and video clips to reinforce the core message of the podcast episode

So – welcome to HyperLeverage. Hope you’ll stay tuned for the ride.

Till next time – Let’s gain some power in our lives. Let’s gain some leverage.