By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The current political campaign season is not just a source of entertainment or concern (depending on your level of seriousness about it); it is also a source of education on persuasion. One important new lesson comes from political consultant and public opinion researcher Mathew MacWilliams in a current essay in Politico. […]
Look Out for the Authoritarian Personality Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: If you’ve seen the old film Ferris Beuller’s Day Off, then you remember one of my favorite scenes where the teacher, played by Ben Stein, attempts to cover U.S. economic history to a group of students who could not be more bored or disengaged. And they can hardly be blamed since
Energize Your Voice Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: One common piece of advice given to fact witnesses during deposition preparation meetings is that it isn’t their role to instruct opposing counsel on everything they ought to know: “Witness, Don’t Teach.” I’ve resisted the temptation to set that advice to the music of Madonna’s “Papa, Don’t Preach” song, but
Witness, Don’t Teach (in Deposition) Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: “Every time I think about those kids it gets me mad,” President Obama said, while talking about the first grade victims in the Newtown massacre of 2012. Only his face read “sad” rather than “mad,” as he gave a statement earlier this week on his new executive actions to reduce gun violence.
Treat Sympathy as a Low-Power Strategy Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: It is every parent’s lament: Time is going by so quickly…It seems like only yesterday…They grow up so fast. Of course, much of this is what I’d call a “retrospective illusion.” It is only when we are looking back on the past that the days, months, or years seem to
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Our stories like the number three: There are three little pigs and three bears, as well as Harry, Ron and Hermione. Our movies like threes, as Star Wars now embarks on the last of its three trilogies. Our advertisements like the number three as well: the iPad 2 is “thinner, lighter, faster.”
Remember the Rule of 3: It’s Simple, Logical, and Effective Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: In 1620, Francis Bacon wrote in Novum Organum, “The human understanding when it has once adopted an opinion…draws all things else to support and agree with it. And though there be an increasing number and weight of instances to be found on the other side, yet these it either neglects or
Reject Your Confirmation Bias (Or At Least Try To) Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: Consider this scenario: two swimmers are drowning, and the even greater problem is that they are so far apart that the single lifeguard cannot rescue both. Instead the lifeguard must choose, because trying to save both could end in saving neither. Logically, we would say that in this scenario, the lifeguard
Take Your Obligations Seriously (Even When They’re Impossible) Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: If you’ve had young children, then you know that at a certain stage, watching the same movie over and over again with your kid comes with the territory. As much as the repetition might annoy you, the kids seem to love the familiarity and comfort of knowing exactly what is going
Repeat Yourself: (Carefully) Repeat Yourself Read More »
By Dr. Ken Broda Bahm: The field of law still holds a first-place title among other professions, but it is a title that law really, really does not want to hold: The practice of law is the least diverse profession in the United States. American lawyers are 88 percent white, and two-thirds male, and that
Build a Diverse Firm Read More »