The Influence Journal
Where the science of influence meets the boardroom.
Essays on negotiation, leadership, and the neuroscience of decision-making — written for people who have to move other people, and want to do it honestly.
Ethical Influence & PersuasionNegotiation MasteryCommunication & Language PatternsLeadership, Conflict & ChangeThe Science of Decision-Making
All articles
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Why Smart Executives Make Bad Calls by 4pm: The Science of Decision Fatigue
The famous parole study, the replication fight, and what honestly survives — plus a decision hygiene protocol for protecting your hardest calls. -
How to Have Difficult Conversations With Employees — and Have Them Listen
Feedback triggers the brain's threat response before a word lands. The Third Story method for conversations that change behaviour without breaking trust. -
Active Listening for Leaders: The Underrated Influence Skill That Wins Negotiations
Research shows high-quality listening changes the speaker's thinking, not just the listener's. The Third-Level Listen, and why it outperforms talking. -
Know Your BATNA Before You Walk In: The Single Source of Calm Power in Any Negotiation
Fisher and Ury named the concept; psychology confirmed it. Why your best alternative decides how you negotiate — and a five-step workout to build one. -
Storytelling for Influence: Why a Well-Told Story Beats a Better Argument
Neuroscience shows stories synchronise brains and lower resistance in ways data cannot. How executives can build a case story — and stay honest doing it. -
Loss Aversion: Why Your Team Fears Losing More Than It Wants to Win
Kahneman and Tversky showed losses weigh roughly twice as much as gains. What that asymmetry does to boardrooms, deals, and change — and how to lead through it. -
Change Fatigue Is Real: The Neuroscience of Why Your Team Has Stopped Caring
When teams greet the new strategy with silence, the problem is biology, not attitude. Inside allostatic load, and the Certainty Budget that restores it. -
Precision Questioning: How the Right Question Reframes the Whole Conversation
Vague language hides the real problem in every boardroom. The NLP Meta Model gives leaders three filters for cutting through it — ethically. -
Tactical Empathy Is Not Soft: The Neuroscience of Making Your Counterpart Feel Understood
Labelling emotion calms the brain that produces it. Why the hardest negotiators in the world lead with empathy — and how to use it ethically. -
How to Influence Stakeholders on a High-Stakes Decision
Why brilliant proposals die in boardrooms — and the sequenced approach that wins stakeholder support before the meeting ever starts. -
The Most Honest Question in Persuasion
There is one test that separates influence from manipulation. It takes a second to ask, and most people are afraid of the answer. -
Why Warmth Beats Authority Every Time
We trust competence, but we follow warmth. The neuroscience of why the leaders who move people are rarely the ones shouting loudest. -
The Frame Decides Before the Facts Do
Why the way we set a context quietly determines the outcome — and how to do it with honesty rather than sleight of hand.
The full system behind these essays lives in the book.
Thirty years in NLP and influence, and a book that brings NLP, neuroscience, and behavioural economics together — one field guide for high-stakes communication.