What’s the best online course you’ve ever taken?

The Art of Influence by Evy Poumpouras on BBC Maestro. Without hesitation.

I took this course while having chemotherapy, when I was feeling considerably less powerful than I would have liked. Watching this formidable former Secret Service agent talk about confidence, strength and understanding human behaviour was exactly what I needed. I rather wanted to borrow some of her backbone.

I’ve always found human relationships fascinating, although interpreting other people’s behaviour doesn’t necessarily come naturally to me. Sometimes I feel everyone else has been given a secret instruction manual on human interaction, and mine got lost in the post.

Evy helped fill in some of the missing pages.

What I particularly love about her is that she says things as they are. She is authentic, openly discusses her own failures and even encourages you to fail, but to learn to fail well. Through her fascinating stories, she opens a door into a world most of us never see, where interpersonal skills are developed to an extraordinary level. And she shares little industry secrets that turn out to be surprisingly useful in everyday life.

The course covers reading people, understanding personalities through the Animal Wheel, using your voice and presence, preparing for difficult situations and looking at the world from different angles.

One lesson transformed how I make decisions. I used to ask everyone for advice, become increasingly confused and then feel guilty if I decided differently. Now I trust my own judgement or ask one genuinely competent person. Better decisions, more confidence, and considerably fewer people exhausted by my indecision.

And then there’s my favourite principle: Be like water.

Adapt. Find another way around an obstacle. Don’t waste your energy trying to move a brick wall when you can simply flow around it.

At a time when cancer threatened to occupy every corner of my mind, Evy helped redirect my attention towards confidence, strength and purpose. Of all the people who helped carry me through that journey, she was certainly one of them, without ever knowing it.

I started the course while chemotherapy was doing its best to knock me sideways.

I finished it feeling a little more like someone who could stand up straight again.

And I still use what I learned