I was on a hot walk with my dog recently, and we came upon an oasis… a water station set up in our neighborhood by Capital City Running, a local running store I hadn’t yet visited.
After Mattingly and I got refreshed from the water (they had a dog bowl and cups), it got me thinking about the cleverness of this water station in an area with tons of runners and walkers.
It brought to mind one of the six “Weapons of Influence” from a favorite business book of mine, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini.
And that was reciprocity, where people tend to return a favor.
Cialdini cites an example where Ethiopia provided thousands of dollars in humanitarian aid to Mexico after the 1985 earthquake, even though Ethiopia was suffering from a crippling famine and civil war at the time.
The thing was that Ethiopia was reciprocating for the diplomatic support Mexico provided when Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935.
Another example is the good cop/bad cop strategy.
So anyway, I appreciated Capital City Running for providing some people and dog water at just the right time, and headed to their store to get some Asics DS Racer 8 shoes.
Check out Capital City Running at http://www.capitalcityrunning.com and visit them if you’re in Austin, TX.