SHRM26 Debrief · Leadership & Development · #2517

Persuasion in the Age of AI for HR Professionals

with Michael Johnson

▶ Watch on the SHRM portal ~68 min, distilled

Persuasion principlesReciprocityLiking

"Lakeisha and Jamal were 50% less likely to receive a call for an interview than Emily and Greg, and the only difference was the name."

What it was about

Persuasion is driven far more by psychological principles than by logic, so HR professionals need to consciously apply seven core influence principles (reciprocity, liking, unity, authority, social proof, commitment and consistency, and scarcity/loss aversion) in their messaging while also staying alert to when those same principles are being used on them by vendors, candidates, and employees.

By the numbers

50% less likely to receive a call for an interview

Resumes with the names Lakeisha and Jamal compared to Emily and Greg in the Chicago resume study.

76% of people said yes

Homeowners who had first agreed to a small 'Be a Safe Driver' window sticker, later asked to place the large billboard (foot-in-the-door technique).

23% increase in tips

Restaurant study: waiter giving one mint, then returning to give a second mint separately (two acts of gifting).

Key notes

Apply the seven principles of influence (reciprocity, liking, unity, authority, social proof, commitment and consistency, scarcity) when drafting emails and presentations that need to move leadership or employees to act.
Frame requests around loss aversion (e.g., 'we are losing $418,000' or 'you will lose $1,200 in HSA contributions') rather than gains, since people respond more strongly to avoiding loss than to acquiring an equivalent gain.
Break large asks into a smaller, low-risk pilot or commitment first (e.g., a 90-day pilot in one department), since a small initial commitment makes people far more likely to agree to a bigger ask later.

The contrarian takeFraming a message around losses ('you will lose $1,200') is more persuasive than framing it around an equivalent gain ('you will gain $1,200'), even though intuition suggests staying positive and optimistic is the better approach.

Take this back Monday

Do this for your team

Rewrite one enrollment email using loss framing and specific social proof, e.g. '87% of employees at your level already enrolled.'

Say this in your next leadership meeting

People respond more to avoiding a loss than gaining the same amount, so we should frame program pitches as what we're losing, not what we'd gain.

Watch out for

Assuming brevity and pithiness is always most persuasive, when big asks actually benefit from more detail and explicit use of psychological principles.
Giving routine, un-personalized gifts (standard 5-year-anniversary gifts, annual holiday gifts) that fail to create any reciprocity effect because they are expected, not personalized.
Letting unconscious 'liking' bias (favoring people similar to yourself) drive hiring and promotion decisions instead of focusing on job-relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Fun fact · Michael Johnson

A former DOJ attorney turned serial entrepreneur, he built and sold two online training companies to private equity firms.

If this landed, see these

↳ Go deeperThe Art and Science of Asking Transformative QuestionsGives the question-design mechanics for putting these influence principles into an actual conversation.⇄ The counterpointCommunicating with Impact...for Results! The Art of Tactful and Diplomatic CommunicationPrioritizes honesty and tact over engineered psychological levers when persuading people at work.✦ The unexpected oneGen Alpha Is Here: Preparing for the Workforce HR Has Never Seen BeforeThe 'trust us' framing this session warns against is exactly what fails with a generation that wants proof, not persuasion tactics.