Every Electives teacher brings a unique perspective to the learning and development of employees. Often, the focus of our conversations with employers is the teacher’s content and the learning outcomes for the teams. But what makes each teacher so special? Why are they so passionate about the topics they teach?

Today, we’re excited to start diving in and answering those questions by introducing you to Rachel Moore. Rachel teaches two electives on Negotiation and Influence, Power, and Persuasion! Enjoy our conversation with Rachel below!

Q: Who is Rachel Moore? How did you get to where you are in your career? 

Rachel: “I am a lecturer at the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University, and a guest lecturer at a few other schools in Boston, such as MIT and Berklee College of Music. I also own my own business; I’m the founder and lead educator for The Human Factor, which focuses on making negotiation and advocacy accessible to anyone. But this wasn’t the path I ever saw myself heading into out of college. The way I got to where I am now is funny...I went to school for design and then later decided to pursue my master’s in engineering and while I was in graduate school, that’s where I got introduced to the concept of negotiation.”

Q: What is the best career advice you have ever received?

Rachel: “I love this one...the best career advice I have ever received is to stay curious. To never stop learning and to always be willing to look at the opportunity in front of you and say ‘Is there something I can learn from this?’”

Q: What inspired you to become a teacher with Electives?

Rachel: “I love that Electives is trying to bring different kinds of courses, especially courses that can really inspire people both in their work life and also in their personal life. I love that Electives is bringing that to the workplace, where people can take these classes with their team. I think it’s a great way to build connections within a company and I love how they offer interesting and hard topics for employees.”

Q: Why do you teach the electives you focus on?

Rachel: “I teach classes on Influence and Negotiation. These are my biggest passion points. I discovered studying negotiation while in graduate school, and have learned that negotiations are never contained to certain scenarios, for example when we are expected to negotiate for salary. We negotiate everyday; we negotiate with our partners when we are trying to pick a restaurant. I believe there is incredible power in those skills.”

Q: What is a statistic or chart of data that concerns you?

Rachel: “I think the data that really bothers me is that it’s common to hear that women don’t negotiate. That we make less money because women don’t negotiate or any minority/identifier that would describe someone doesn’t negotiate. It’s actually not true; they do negotiate, but they are perceived as more aggressive because they are not expected to negotiate. And therefore they are penalized for it.”

Q: What do you hope employees will gain from attending your electives?

Rachel: “I hope that anyone who takes my elective walks away feeling like they have more agency. The same way that, you know, money gives us power to do things like change our jobs, or change our locations, change relationships...I believe that negotiation and influence really gives us agency to be able to ask for more of what we want and have more influence in conversations.” 

Q: What do you challenge people to do after your electives?

Rachel: “Negotiation and influence are not things that are learned by reading books, listening to podcasts, or even attending a lecture. They are things that are learned through practice. So I close every class with a challenge, and this could be something like go and experience rejection on purpose to get comfortable asking for things or try to understand someone’s core emotional interests when you are talking to them. The goal is to bring the learning out of the classroom and into our daily lives.”

Q: What is a topic you wished you studied more in school?

Rachel: “Cognitive science, hands down! I am constantly soaking in research studies, books, videos, and lectures because I believe that understanding our brains is such a critical part in understanding how we react in the moment whether it’s a standard negotiation or a tough conversation. Some of it is context and culture but there is a part of it that has to do with what’s going on in the brain.”

Q: Can you share a book or podcast that should be added to our reading/listening lists?

Rachel: “I love Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman. It totally shifted my perspective on how I think about my thought processes from a cognitive science perspective. There is something interesting about how we think and how it impacts us in our day to day.”

Q: What do you personally want to learn more about or focus on in 2022?

Rachel: “I would really like to learn how to facilitate tough conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion. I get asked to do that often because I work in conflict resolution but I’m not sure how to play a role in this. I want to amplify voices in the room but also conquer this because it’s such an important topic. And I want to challenge myself to learn more about this so I can be a better human.”

Every Electives teacher brings a unique perspective to the learning and development of employees. Often, the focus of our conversations with employers is the teacher’s content and the learning outcomes for the teams. But what makes each teacher so special? Why are they so passionate about the topics they teach?

Today, we’re excited to start diving in and answering those questions by introducing you to Rachel Moore. Rachel teaches two electives on Negotiation and Influence, Power, and Persuasion! Enjoy our conversation with Rachel below!

Q: Who is Rachel Moore? How did you get to where you are in your career? 

Rachel: “I am a lecturer at the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University, and a guest lecturer at a few other schools in Boston, such as MIT and Berklee College of Music. I also own my own business; I’m the founder and lead educator for The Human Factor, which focuses on making negotiation and advocacy accessible to anyone. But this wasn’t the path I ever saw myself heading into out of college. The way I got to where I am now is funny...I went to school for design and then later decided to pursue my master’s in engineering and while I was in graduate school, that’s where I got introduced to the concept of negotiation.”

Q: What is the best career advice you have ever received?

Rachel: “I love this one...the best career advice I have ever received is to stay curious. To never stop learning and to always be willing to look at the opportunity in front of you and say ‘Is there something I can learn from this?’”

Q: What inspired you to become a teacher with Electives?

Rachel: “I love that Electives is trying to bring different kinds of courses, especially courses that can really inspire people both in their work life and also in their personal life. I love that Electives is bringing that to the workplace, where people can take these classes with their team. I think it’s a great way to build connections within a company and I love how they offer interesting and hard topics for employees.”

Q: Why do you teach the electives you focus on?

Rachel: “I teach classes on Influence and Negotiation. These are my biggest passion points. I discovered studying negotiation while in graduate school, and have learned that negotiations are never contained to certain scenarios, for example when we are expected to negotiate for salary. We negotiate everyday; we negotiate with our partners when we are trying to pick a restaurant. I believe there is incredible power in those skills.”

Q: What is a statistic or chart of data that concerns you?

Rachel: “I think the data that really bothers me is that it’s common to hear that women don’t negotiate. That we make less money because women don’t negotiate or any minority/identifier that would describe someone doesn’t negotiate. It’s actually not true; they do negotiate, but they are perceived as more aggressive because they are not expected to negotiate. And therefore they are penalized for it.”

Q: What do you hope employees will gain from attending your electives?

Rachel: “I hope that anyone who takes my elective walks away feeling like they have more agency. The same way that, you know, money gives us power to do things like change our jobs, or change our locations, change relationships...I believe that negotiation and influence really gives us agency to be able to ask for more of what we want and have more influence in conversations.” 

Q: What do you challenge people to do after your electives?

Rachel: “Negotiation and influence are not things that are learned by reading books, listening to podcasts, or even attending a lecture. They are things that are learned through practice. So I close every class with a challenge, and this could be something like go and experience rejection on purpose to get comfortable asking for things or try to understand someone’s core emotional interests when you are talking to them. The goal is to bring the learning out of the classroom and into our daily lives.”

Q: What is a topic you wished you studied more in school?

Rachel: “Cognitive science, hands down! I am constantly soaking in research studies, books, videos, and lectures because I believe that understanding our brains is such a critical part in understanding how we react in the moment whether it’s a standard negotiation or a tough conversation. Some of it is context and culture but there is a part of it that has to do with what’s going on in the brain.”

Q: Can you share a book or podcast that should be added to our reading/listening lists?

Rachel: “I love Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman. It totally shifted my perspective on how I think about my thought processes from a cognitive science perspective. There is something interesting about how we think and how it impacts us in our day to day.”

Q: What do you personally want to learn more about or focus on in 2022?

Rachel: “I would really like to learn how to facilitate tough conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion. I get asked to do that often because I work in conflict resolution but I’m not sure how to play a role in this. I want to amplify voices in the room but also conquer this because it’s such an important topic. And I want to challenge myself to learn more about this so I can be a better human.”

Rachel Moore, Electives teacher, brings a unique perspective to negotiation and influence for employees to learn and develop.

Teacher Spotlight - Rachel Moore

Tue Nov 23 2021

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