Harnessing mental power to the pursuit of excellence
Gilan Gork is a mentalist, the author of ‘Persuasion Games’ and the founder of The Influence Institute
What is a mentalist? And how do you become one?
If you google the term, it’ll show results that include “clairvoyance” and “psychic”, but I’m the first to admit I’m none of those things. Around the world, different people use the term in different ways, though typically all related to the mind. For example, if you’re a maths prodigy, or an extreme memory pro, you could also call yourself a mentalist. My passion is the art and science of reading and influencing people.
I was mentored by mentalists from the UK and US as a teenager. I began with demonstrations of decoding people’s thoughts and even predicting what they would do, say or think ahead of time. At school, I was obsessed with becoming a mentalist. I almost failed because it was my sole focus. I was like a broke artist, living at home with my folks for years. After understanding how I could apply my skills in influence to lead, sell, market and inspire on new levels, I used this to grow my business to more than 30 countries. Now, I teach people how to influence others, especially in business.
What drew you to become a mentalist?
I always enjoyed presenting in front of people. When I was a few years old, my parents knew I’d have a career on stage in some way, shape or form. Life is full of fine lines, and I just happened to meet mentalists who blew my mind. Thankfully, I had a knack for the skills a mentalist would need, and was mentored by some pretty brilliant people.
Tell me about your corporate events.
In life, the ability to influence people to buy in to your ideas is often even more important than the idea itself. So many great ideas never see the light of day because people have failed to get the buy-in, attention or support they needed. My team and I know that when we help people unleash their influence, we help them change their world and the world as a whole. I create unique learning experiences that help people lead, sell, market and inspire on new levels.
What did you want to be as a child?
I’m really fortunate that since I was young I wanted to be a mentalist. At that stage in my life, it was just to be able to blow people’s minds. I guess I liked the attention.
What do you find most meaningful about your work?
It’s extremely meaningful to be able to communicate information, ideas and strategies to people, and then to have them make contact down the line to let us know how it’s affected their lives. We strive to “deconstruct” influence, so we can teach it to peo- ple to help them get what they want in life. For example, helping a single parent in a sales career increase their influence, and income, making it possible to give their children chances they never had themselves.
What is the best career advice you have ever received, and who gave it to you?
The leadership guru John C Maxwell taught me that “everything rises and falls on influence”. I became a founding member of his global team of leadership speakers, trainers and coaches. I’m grateful to him for sharing how our effectiveness is directly proportional to our ability to positively influence the people around us. If you have a big goal, chances are you’ll need other people to help you achieve it. If you want to be more effective at achieving anything, become more effective at working with people.