"The Power of a Public Commitment Device:" Steve Martin on Five Years of GAABS

The former Board Chair and Influence at Work founder reflects on the origins of the world’s leading association for applied behavioural scientists — and where the field is heading next.

Steve Martin needs little introduction to anyone working in the behavioural sciences. Co-author of the global bestseller Yes! and a behavioural science professional trained by Robert Cialdini, he has spent more than two decades applying the principles of social influence to some of the world’s most intractable people problems.

But his role in founding GAABS — the Global Association of Applied Behavioural Scientists — is perhaps less well known. We sat down with him to hear the story of how the organisation came to be, what its early years were really like, and why he believes the field of behavioural science is on the cusp of a significant second wind.

The Other Side of Change: the book Maya Shankar didn't write for us — and why you should read it anyway

By Allison Zelkowitz

What do you say to an executive who truly believes that their organisation is making great  decisions now and who is about to issue a hard pass on your offer of taking a look at decision-making in your workplace? This is the question that GAABS wanted to tackle for its first webinar for 2026. 

To start, we wanted questions that were derived directly from lived experience. No pre-judgments or baseless biases here. No, no. Just gathering some sharp-pointed arrows for you to place in your quiver. Where did we look? Well, of course, we looked to our brilliant study co-leads from our 2025 study on Decision-Making in the Workplace. Dr. Melina Maleskis, Dr. Sheheryar Banuri, and Dr. Umar Taj graciously agreed to serve as panelists. And they helped us source some of their favorite tough questions with us and shared their best answers.