Michael Pantalon, Ph.D.

Michael V. Pantalon, Ph.D. is an award-winning faculty member at Yale University School of Medicine, and maintains a practice as a motivational coach, consultant, speaker, and therapist.  Most recently, he is the author of Instant Influence: How to Get Anyone to Do Anything—Fast!(Little, Brown & Company/May 9, 2011, Publication Date).  At Yale, Dr. Pantalon teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Personality Psychology and the History of Psychology; and classes at the medical school on Clinical Psychology and Motivational Interviewing.   He and his colleagues conduct research on the effectiveness of his adaptation of motivational interviewing (the basis of Instant Influence) and substance abuse treatment in a variety of healthcare and criminal justice settings, work that has received over 22 million dollars in federal funding over the past decade.  

Dr. Pantalon has spent the last two decades helping businesses, organizations and individuals exert more influence than they ever thought possible.   He has taught his Instant Influence method to thousands of business executives, human resource managers, executive and lifestyle coaches, parents, teachers, sales representatives, probation officers, psychologists and other health care professionals, as well as individuals struggling with a range of health-risk, addictive and compulsive behaviors. He has consulted with businesses and organizations such as General Electric, Bristol-Myers Squib, Schering-Plough, Crossroads at Antigua , Hazelden, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, among many others.

Dr. Pantalon has published numerous articles on his research, in publications such as the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association, and has presented his work at national and international conferences. He earned his B.A. in Psychology from Binghamton University; his M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical and School Psychology from Hofstra University; and his M.S. in Clinical Psychopharmacology from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology. He lives in Hamden, Connecticut, with his wife, Marianne, and their sons, Matthew and Nicholas.

Presentation summary:

Dr. Pantalon begins his speeches with one of a number of his highly engaging stories regarding the need for the development of his ultra-brief method for motivating or influencing people at work or at home.  Then, as interactively as possible (depending on the audience and setting), he presents the 3 main things to keep in mind in order to use his Instant Influence method:  1) People change when they hear themselves argue WHY (not how) they WANT (not need or have) to change; 2) In order to influence others, get out of the way by remembering to STOP telling people what to do and START asking 6 simple questions to get anyone to do anything – fast! and 3) Instant Influence works, the portion of Dr. Pantalon’s speech which covers relevant success stories and culminates with a clear and compelling picture of how Instant Influence will work for the current audience.