Entries by Brian Ahearn, CMCT®

I Applaud Starbucks

This week, May 29 to be exact, Starbucks will close 8,000 of its stores to conduct racial bias training for 175,000 employees. I applaud Starbucks for this move. This is in response to the arrest of two black men in a Philadelphia Starbucks. The incident came about after they asked to use the bathroom while they […]

Systems Plus Persuasion Equal Success

Something I’ve noticed over time is how much systems contribute to success. It’s not to say that being carefree and creative don’t have value – they do. However, my observation has been with most things – learning, fitness, health, sales, coaching, leadership, etc. – having good systems in place are much more beneficial than winging […]

We Know What to Do but Often Fail to Do It

Something I’ve consistently observed in people is this; quite often we know what to do but too often we fail to do it. Here are a few examples that come right to mind: We know exercise is good for us and yet very few people do even minimal exercise. We know how to eat healthy […]

Getting Help When You Need It Most

It’s Monday the 7th and you need to get a report to your boss by next Monday, the 14th. To complicate matters, you need some information from a coworker in another department to finish the report. This is important because your report, after being reviewed by your boss, will be incorporated into the CEO’s quarterly […]

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: […]