Entries by Brian Ahearn, CMCT®

It All Started With This…

It was sometime in 2003, Nancy Edwards, a coworker handed a videotape to my boss, John Petrucci, and me. Nancy had seen it during an MBA class she was taking at The Ohio State University. She said she thought we’d really like it. The video was Robert Cialdini presenting The Power of Persuasion at Stanford’s […]

How Are You Doing?

If I had more time I would…[fill in the blank]. Most people have had an unprecedented amount of time on their hands the last month due to quarantine situations around the world. How are you doing? How have you been using your time? Are you trying to change the things you’ve wanted to change for […]

The Subconscious; the Dark Matter of our Psychology

Something I do when I’m on the treadmill is read on my Kindle or watch documentaries. I recently finished Quark Science on Amazon and the episode on dark matter grabbed my attention because it reminded me of something from psychology. What is this mysterious thing scientists call dark matter? According to Dictionary.com it is, “Unseen matter that […]

Quarterly Newsletter

Most people would say 2020 and first quarter started great. We saw record highs in the stock market, record lows on unemployment and low interest rates to name just a few of the economic metrics. Life was prosperous for manyAmericans and people around the world. Then suddenly it came to a halt with Covid-19. The pandemic is unprecedented […]

Man, this sucks! Sucks compared to what?

Across most of the nation, and much of the world, people are self-quarantining. In some cases, the quarantine is imposed by government order. In either case, some people are complaining, “Man, this sucks!” I’d like to offer a different viewpoint and ask, “Sucks compared to what?” Nelson Mandela The late Nelson Mandela, statesman and leader […]

Do You Have Faith?

Do you have faith? I do. My perspective on faith comes from my Christian worldview. The Bible defines faith as follows; “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) From there the chapter goes on to list people who lived by faith. Examples of Faith We all […]

7 Deadly Sins When Trying to Influence PEOPLE

I just celebrated my 12th anniversary partnering with INFLUENCE AT WORK, the organization headed up by Robert Cialdini, Ph.D. Cialdini, sometimes called “the Godfather of influence”, is the most cited living social psychologist on the planet when it comes to the science of influence. I have the privilege of being one of only two dozen […]

“The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, uttered those words in 1932, during his first inaugural address. The American people were scared because of the stock market crash and subsequent depression. When FDR spoke, it didn’t look like things were going to get better any time soon. It strikes me that we’re […]

The Data Tells The Story…Not!

I was listening to a podcast recently and the guest said, “The data tells the story.” I would contend it’s not the data that tells the story but rather, how the data is presented. Let me share several examples. Unhealthy Big Macs In Made to Stick, authors Chip and Dan Heath shared a story about […]

From Womb to Tomb Each of Us is a Persuader

From womb to tomb, each of us uses the skill of persuasion throughout our lifetime. As soon as babies come into the world they cry because they want to be held, fed, burped or changed. They don’t understand they’re engaging the skill we call persuasion, but they know they have a need and they want […]