Entries by Brian Ahearn, CMCT®

Robert Cialdini, Friend and Mentor

This week I’d like to highlight my friend and mentor, Robert Cialdini, Ph.D. I won’t go into details on how I came to know Cialdini because I shared that story last year in a post I called My Chance Encounter with Robert Cialdini. Cialdini has been associated with the psychology department at Arizona State University […]

Speak Metaphorically to Influence Literally

Speaking metaphorically can help you influence people, literally. This post was inspired by the Ted Talk Metaphorically Speaking from James Geary. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary a metaphor is “a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them.” He […]

Don’t Stop Believin’ You can Influence People

Don’t Stop Believin’ by the 80s rock band Journey is one of the best-known songs of all time. It’s not that the song is musically distinct, it’s because the lyrics are easy to remember and it’s encouraging when everything seems to be going against you. Misuse “don’t” and you might hinder your ability to influence people. […]

The Power of Moments

Ever since reading Made to Stick I’ve been a fan of authors Chip and Dan Heath. I read their follow up books Switch, Decisive and most recently The Power of Moments. As you might expect, I was very excited when I learned Dan Heath was going to be a keynote speaker at the Chief Learning […]

TEAM = Together Everyone Accomplishes More

While in Florida for the Chief Learning Officer Symposium last week I caught some of the women’s March Madness tournament. I watched the UConn – South Carolina game where UConn operated like a well oiled machine, winning 94 to 65. Some quick facts about the lady huskies dynasty from their Wikipedia page: They’ve won 11 NCAA titles, […]

Our Brains, Evolution and Principles that Persuade

As I prepared to speak at the Chief Learning Officer Symposium this week I found myself continually referring to our brains, evolution and the principles that persuade. Each of Robert Cialdini’s “principles of persuasion” have their roots in the evolution of the human species. When it comes to evolution two powerful drivers of your brain are: […]

Overcoming Youth or Inexperience in Business

Recently I was on LinkedIn and saw a question about overcoming youth and/or inexperience in business. When I think I can add to a conversation I’ll usually chime in and did so in this case. The person who was seeking guidance was fresh out of college and decided to pursue her master’s degree while working […]

Consistency Trumps Intensity Almost Every Time

I came across a wonderful short video from vimeo featuring Simon Sinek. In the span of three minutes Sinek laid out why consistency trumps intensity almost every time when it comes to the most important things in life. I encourage you to invest a few minutes right now to watch the video. I agree with […]

What Do You Want Them to Remember?

A few weeks ago, I finished a book called Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance by Alex Hutchinson and Malcolm Gladwell. Having run many marathons in the past, and still running six or seven days a week, I’m always interested to learn tips that can help improve my performance. This […]