My dear friend E-lene recently handed me a copy of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini, and I have to admit, I wondered how I’d managed to miss it for so many years. It’s considered one of the most influential books ever written on consumer psychology and marketing, with more than five million copies sold and a place on the bookshelf of countless entrepreneurs, marketers and business leaders.

Robert Cialdini isn’t a marketer trying to sell a theory. He’s a psychologist who spent years researching why people say “yes.” Rather than relying on opinions, he studied the science behind decision-making and identified seven universal principles that influence how we choose, trust and buy: reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking, scarcity and, in this expanded edition, unity. His work has fundamentally changed the way businesses think about communication, branding and customer relationships.

For me, the timing couldn’t have been better.

Singapore has become our testing ground. It’s where we’ve had some wonderful successes, but also where we’ve made mistakes, challenged assumptions and discovered that what works in one market doesn’t necessarily work in another. Retail today feels more volatile than ever, and understanding products is no longer enough. We need to understand people.

That’s exactly why I’m reading this book.

Not because I want to persuade people to buy things they don’t need, but because I want to better understand how people make decisions, what builds trust, and how we can communicate what Nala truly stands for in a way that resonates.

I’ve always believed that beautiful design is only half the story. The other half is understanding people. If we can create something meaningful and communicate it honestly, then perhaps that’s where real influence begins.

Perhaps that’s why this book found me now, and not twenty years ago.

I’ll let you know what I learn.