About InfluenceRISING

Mission
InfluenceRISING exists to help people and organizations develop, enhance, and apply influence and persuasion skills in an honorable, ethical, and effective manner.

Why is there emphasis on Skill Development?
A person may have the ability to be influential or persuasive in ideal situations. However, life does not always offer ideal conditions. Variables such as competition, shifting rules of engagement, diverse personalities, or arduous conditions can alter the playing field. Such variables call for skilled professionals who can adapt to the vicissitudes of the workplace.

A specific capability becomes a skill when it can be performed at will, in good times and bad, even under pressure.

We work with our clients to develop influence and persuasion skills designed to achieve specific results. Our clients are able to deal with those elusive "moments of power" when doing or saying the wrong thing can jeopardize a contract or one's career.

Ethical Influence and Persuasion
Unfortunately the recent past has been littered with headlines and stories of skilled, yet dishonest influencers. Using influence techniques in a dishonorable manner may gain one short term benefits. However, such behavior is not only immoral but impractical as well.

Consider Enron. It was a company initially praised by Wall Street that created schemes to defraud investors as well as many of its own people. Hundreds of investors experienced severe losses, including many who lost their pensions. The dishonest influencers either failed to consider the consequences of their actions or were unconcerned about the consequences. The perpetrators lost their jobs, their company, damaged their reputations, and hurt their families as well as society at large. Some are even in jail.

The good news is that research shows that integrity and effectiveness are not mutually exclusive. Part of our training process helps you see how much more effective your skills are when aligned with honorable intentions and actions.

Clients
Our clients include individuals, groups, teams, businesses, and other organizations. We help them to become more persuasive and influential by teaching them how to apply scientifically validated techniques in an ethical manner.

We provide influence-related presentations, seminars, key note speeches, workshop training and consultancy services.

Our Core Service
Our core service, and a starting point for many of our clients, is the Principles of Persuasion Workshop. This workshop was designed, and is continually updated, by Dr. Robert Cialdini the leading authority in the world in the field of influence. Doctor Cialdini is the author of the business best seller, Influence: Science and Practice. This book is published in twenty languages and has sold millions of copies. Based on this important book, our workshop focuses on the correct application of the Principles of Persuasion for your specific needs.

There are currently about 25 people in the world certified to conduct the Principles of Persuasion Workshop. Two of our professionals, are among this rare group of authorized and skilled influence practitioners.

Professionals

David Ahlstrom
David Ahlstrom is that rare individual who is able to regularly transition successfully between the academic and business communities as well as between Asia and the USA. David has the unique distinction of winning outstanding teaching awards from New York University (NYU) and The Chinese University of Hong Kong for courses on both the undergraduate and graduate levels while teaching business courses in either English or Chinese! His marketing strategies have changed the way many advertisements are positioned in Hong Kong.

David is a Professor, Department of Management in the Faculty of Business Administration at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is the former Director of the Georgetown Summer Program in China and teaches for Georgetown University during the summer break. Before assuming his position at The Chinese University in 1996, he was an instructor at New York University's Stern School of Business from 1993-1996.

David's professional interests include international management, managing in Greater China, venture capital and entrepreneurship in emerging economies. He has authored over one hundred peer-reviewed papers, about fifty of which have appeared in academic journals or as book chapters. His research has appeared in a number of journals including the Academy of Management Review (AMR), Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Business Venturing, Academy of Management Executive (now Academy of Management Perspectives), Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Business Horizons, and Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice.

David has participated in consulting and training projects with numerous organizations including DBS Bank (Hong Kong), J.P. Morgan (New York), VTech (Hong Kong), Hang Seng Bank (Hong Kong), Parkway Hospital Group (Singapore), Sakura (Tokyo), the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIMA), India, the Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong Technology Centre (Hong Kong Government), the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, and a number of East Asian, European, and North American universities.

David received his PhD from New York University's Stern School of Business and other graduate degrees from New York University and the University of Hawaii in international business.

Upon witnessing David teach, Dr. Robert Cialdini, creator of the Principles of Persuasion workshop has said: "David Alhstrom provides the perfect picture of the credible communicator--a combination of knowledge and trustworthiness that audiences respond to fully and deeply."

Eleanor Austin
Eleanor's presence reminds us that professionalism is more a matter of character, intelligence, perspective, industriousness, and service to customers than it is experience.

In addition to being an integral part of InfluenceRISING, Eleanor is also a student at Harvard University. She initially came on board as an intern but proved so effective in multiple areas that we asked her to become a member of the team.

Eleanor develops and refines our marketing materials and conducts sales calls for InfluenceRISING. She also finds time to manage select research projects for the leadership division of VeritasRISING.

Edward T. Brown
Edd Brown is the founder of VeritasRISING International and the creator of Mindful Selling. He has spent over 20 years consulting with Fortune 500 executives, government officials, academics, and law firm partners to uncover their organizational needs. Edd has advised managers on process creation, change management, and process management. He designed and conducted executive and knowledge worker seminars to help implement new strategies.

Edd started his business career at Mead Data Central where he was a consistent member of the President's Club, the company's top revenue achievers in the world. Prior to business, Edd worked in the social service domain where he learned the skills and the importance of effective persuasion.

Edd is experienced in working with diverse groups, identifying common interests, building rapport and finding and/or creating successful solutions. He continues to study and learn in the areas of influence, persuasion, strategic planning, personal branding, team building, leadership development, process creation, process implementation, change navigation, conflict resolution, and general communication.

Edd completed graduate studies at Harvard University where he worked with Dr. Ellen Langer, considered to be one of the world's leading experts on mindfulness. Edd's graduate thesis was on the relationship between mindfulness and leadership.

As a mediator for the Massachusetts State Courts, Edd implemented the mindful techniques he learned to help parties solve their legal, business and personal problems. Edd is currently a Principal Consultant for Emergenetics Asia and a visiting professor at the Global Talent Development Center in Shanghai, China.

Edd offers a wide perspective as he has worked with customers to address their business challenges in the USA, Asia, Canada, and Europe.

Edd is one of twenty five people in the world certified by Dr. Robert Cialdini to deliver Principles of Persuasion. This is the only course based on the scientific research out lined in Dr. Cialdini's best selling book: Influence: Science & Practice. Dr. Robert Cialdini has this to say about Edd, "I know why Edd Brown is a sought-after program leader. His natural intelligence shines through as he delivers course material, and his friendly personal style assures that participants will be receptive to it."

Dana Chan
Dana is the managing director of Global Talent Development Center (GTDC) in Shanghai. The GTDC offers the Principles of Persuasion Workshop as well as other outstanding courses for people interested in high performance. Dana has 21 years of international management and consulting experience. She has worked in Hong Kong, Connecticut, Jakarta, Singapore, and Shanghai. Her experience in both IT and HR equipped her with understanding and insights of managing across cultures.

Since her moving to Shanghai in 2002, Dana led the team to manage change and integrate business processes for three post M&A projects in various parts of China involving 9,000 employees. Dana was named one of China’s top 50 CIOs by China National Informatization Evaluation Center (NiEC) for two consecutive years.

In 2006 and 2007, Dana conducted extensive interviews with senior Western and Chinese managers working in Multinational companies on the effectiveness of foreign executives managing in China and Chinese executives going global. She then developed courses of “Leading and managing in China” and “Chinese executives going Global” based on the input of these 100+ business executives. In 2007, more than 2000 participants, including 350 foreign executives, attended Dana’s seminars, presentations, and MBA courses. Dana is adjunct professor in Shanghai Jiaotong University’s International MBA, Euromed Marseille Global and Finance MBA, and Shanghai University’s Global Local MBA. She is also certified trainer for Motorola University. Subjects covered by Dana include Change Management, People Management Skills, Organizational Behavior, Career Management, and Strategic Management of Information Technology.

Dana is a mentor for career management and personal growth to many MBA students and executives. She is a certified worldwide trainer for DISC, Emergenetics, and Harrison Assessment. She is also certified to explain Caliper and Harvard University’s Career Leader assessment service.

Prior to her work in China, Dana was executive director for Corporate IT and HR for a Singapore business group with diversified investment in the Asia Pacific Region. Before that she worked In the USA as an IT consultant for then Andersen Consulting USA and Howard Systems International USA. Dana started her career in Hong Kong as a systems engineer with IBM China/HK Corporation.

Dana received her Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from Jinan University in Guangzhou, China; and MBA degree in International Business (IBEAR) from University of Southern California, USA. She is fluent in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese. Dana currently lives in Shanghai with her family.