Neale Martin

Neale Martin

TEDxPeachtree 2013 speaker Neale Martin has built a life around embracing chaos, a life-philosophy that has allowed him to be a jack of many trades. When asked how he stays centered and focused with so many interests, he demonstrated just how much he appreciates the madness of being a leading researcher into the mechanics of cognitive psychology, habit, and how to best reach consumers through habit-based marketing.

“I’m much more of an inductive reasoner than a deductive reasoner, so I’m always trying to pull the threads together and say okay, what’s the bigger story here? What’s the underlying order amidst all the chaos?” Neale’s natural deductive curiosity has weaved a long, diverse career path including journalism during the Internet boom, providing counseling in a drug and alcohol treatment program, and professor of innovation at Kennesaw State University.

Neale’s current thread-stringing specialty is understanding the complexities of the human mind. “The nature of the work I do is to try and understand the power of the unconscious mind,” Neale said, “and I do a lot of work to understand habits.” Neale’s most recent work is with Sublime Behavior, a marketing company he built around his research into the power of habits, and how people can be empowered to change their habits to better their own lives.

With an incredibly sharp wit and love for the challenge of chaos, the catalyst for Neale’s work with habit-based behaviors was writing for his high school newspaper, an experience that required him to piece together bigger pictures. “I became a journalist originally, and the word itself is quite near and dear to my heart. I think a catalyst is something that changes other things without changing.” Neale’s energy and curiosity through the years has allowed him to stay unchanged while still being able to spark betterment in others’ lives through empowering them with the necessary tools for success. “I think there’s just this great potential that we have to begin to really think through how we can create change, how we can empower people so they can make the changes that they want to make in their lives.”

To Neale, it’s not really about what he does–it’s about what people hear, and whether or not they act on that advice. Habits created by a person and followed through tend to be the greatest success. “So you really do recognize that anything you can do is only up to the person who is hearing you to take that and work with it. That’s why I’m excited about this opportunity,” Neale said of the chance to share his work at TEDxPeachtree.

“I believe that this understanding that we have even from just the last 15 years of research gives us such powerful insight into the way people’s brains really work, and what we need to do to make changes in our lives that can affect the quality of our lives and the quality of our health. And from the individual building blocks you can actually change culture and society.”

Want to learn about Neale’s work around the importance of habits? Be sure to purchase your ticket for TEDxPeachtree 2013 today and pick up a copy of his book, Habit: The 95% of Behavior Marketers Ignore.

Katie Grills

Katie Grills is a marketing professional and resident of Atlanta’s Historic Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. When she isn’t playing catch with her dog, Katie likes to hone her culinary abilities, read short fiction, and explore the intricacies and oddities of Atlanta’s neighborhoods.

One response to “2013 Speaker Spotlight: Neale Martin”

  1. […] Neale Martin wrapped up TEDxPeachtree 2013 with Why TED Talks Don’t Change Your Life Much. Although many thought Martin may burst the bubble of inspiring, sometimes emotional talks and fireworks on our cerebellum, he instead explained how to make a change in one’s life by training the unconscious mind. At the end of the day, both literally and proverbially, it takes more than just inspiration to make a true behavioral change. […]

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