Many Milestones and Reasons to Celebrate

This past year has held a lot of milestones
for me and for my family and so does the coming month. In March 2013, Jane and
I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We followed that up in
December with our daughter Abigail’s 18th birthday. I turned 50 a
few weeks ago and Jane will reach that magical number in about four weeks. The
month of May will conclude with Abigail graduating from high school. A very event-filled
14 months!

One more milestone in the midst of all of that
is the 5th anniversary of Influence PEOPLE. On April 17, 2009, I
wrote my first blog post Why Influence is All about PEOPLE. Over the past five
years, more than 100,000 people from nearly 200 countries have taken time to
read Influence PEOPLE. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that
kind of response!

It’s been incredible to meet people all across
the globe and in particular those who’ve participated in my Influencers from
Around the World Series. Special thanks to Sean Patrick, Anthony McLean, Hoh Kim, Marco Germani, Yago De Marta and Cathrine Moestue for being so generous
in sharing their thoughts and articles with all of us over the past five years.
 It’s been fun to get to know each of them
and to learn about their cultures. I feel like anywhere I go in the world I’ll
have friends to meet with. 

I also need to thank several other people.
First and foremost is Debbie Conkel, a coworker who
generously proof reads all my blog posts. Another is Mike Figliuolo, who has been a mentor in
many ways because he’s much farther down the road with his company and blog thoughtLEADERS. My boss at State Auto, John Petrucci, has also been
unbelievably supportive in every way. He gets that happy, engaged employees are
more productive and valuable, and encourages that in all his associates.

I also want to thank some people who’ve been
so encouraging. First is Nancy Edwards, a former colleague.
Someone else who comes to mind is George Black. Were it not for his
encouragement I might never have started this blog.

Huge thanks also go to Jane and Abigail. They’ve
been my biggest supporters and have been very gracious as I’ve occasionally
shared stories about each of them. Jane was especially patient with me when I wrote
a post I called Reverse Psychology and the
Vacation Bathing Suit.

And I’ve save the best for last – you! Without
you reading this every week I would not be as encouraged and inspired to write
as I am. Some of my best days are seeing comments or getting emails from
readers who tell me how my writing has helped them professionally or
personally. That’s the goal with what I do – to help you learn to hear “Yes”
because it’s so important for your professional success and personal happiness.

So from me to you, a sincere Thank You! I hope
five years from now you’re still reading and I have the chance to say thanks
again.

Brian Ahearn, CMCT® 
Chief Influence Officer

influencePEOPLE 
Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.

Cialdini “Influence”
Series! Would you like to learn more about
influence from the experts? Check out the Cialdini “Influence” Series featuring Cialdini
Method Certified Trainers from around the world.