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Tag Archives: persuasion

Nudging in the right direction

By Ricki Sharpe | Published: May 12, 2008

Every day we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat to the causes we champion. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. Nudge is the latest in a series of books that detail the many ways in which our decision making is irrational, and what we can do about it.

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It pays to know your opponent

By Ricki Sharpe | Published: April 27, 2008

From the war room to the board room, negotiations are a part of everyday life. Successful negotiations demand a clear understanding of your opponent. But what approach should you take to achieve such an understanding of your opponent in everyday negotiations?

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Predictably irrational

By Ricki Sharpe | Published: April 14, 2008

Irrational behavior is a part of human nature, but as MIT professor Dan Ariely has discovered in 20 years of researching behavioural economics, people tend to behave irrationally in a predictable fashion. Drawing on psychology and economics, he explains why patients get greater relief from a more expensive drug over its cheaper counterpart and why honest people may steal office supplies or communal food, but not money.

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Personality and sales performance

By Ricki Sharpe | Published: March 27, 2008

Most psychologists, at least those involved in selection, have at sometime in their career tried to discover the Holy Grail of personality testing: that is to identify the personality of the successful salesperson. Many have turned their endeavours into lucrative businesses, some with much smoke and mirrors, and quite a bit of snake oil. But the search goes on, with frustrated sales managers moving on to the next big thing.

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Intuition: is there such a thing?

By Ricki Sharpe | Published: March 10, 2008

Most of us experience gut feelings we can’t explain, such as making snap judgements that bring surprising results. In hindsight, we don’t know how we come to such spur of the moment conclusions, but they just seem to work out. Now researchers at Leeds say these feelings – or intuitions – are real and we should take our hunches seriously.

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