Lisa Richardson on the Psychology of Peloton

Why is Peloton - a company that sells bikes that allow you to take on-demand and live classes at home - so successful? With a Net Promoter Score of 94 (that's 94% of customers who would recommend it to someone else), there must be a psychological explanation. That's what my guest Lisa Richardson has researched as part of her psychology masters.

I'm interested in this because I've recently joined Peloton and absolutely love the product. I didn't think I would since I'd previously viewed it as a bit of a cult. The kind of people who had bought it, seemed to be incredibly fanatical and I didn't think that would be me. Yet it is. And this intrigued me. So I wanted to know more. Not just to answer my own curiosity about what had driven me to be so committed to an activity, I would never have contemplated doing in a gym, let alone at home. But also, because I think there are clues there about how we might persuade people to do things they're not naturally drawn to do - like comply with Compliance requirements at work.

So whether you're an existing Peloton fan, you really don't understand what the fuss is about, have never heard of it, or as a cycling fundamentalist, think it's a terrible watering down of what cycling should be, this show has something for you. Lisa joins me to tell me what she discovered in her research. And what she shares has real implications for managing human risk.

To read an article Lisa wrote about her research: https://thriveglobal.com/stories/applying-the-magic-of-peloton/

You can read Lisa's research "Peloton as a Facilitator of Hope: Pathways to Initiate and Sustain Behaviors that Enhance Well-being" here: https://repository.upenn.edu/mapp_capstone/182/

To find out more about Peloton, visit their website: https://www.onepeloton.com/