If you want to persuade someone, you don’t do it with judgment. You don’t do it with fury, or even anger. You don’t do it with the strength of your conviction, or the weight of your emotion. Most of the time, these things have no authority over those we wish to convince. You persuade with credibility.
We’ve talked about credibility before. It’s the bedrock of a win in the courtroom. Credible evidence wins cases. The reason it does so is because the jury finds credible evidence persuasive. If you want people to find you persuasive, you have to be credible too.
That means you persuade with empathy. When you understand your opponent’s perspective, you can find persuasion that will most resonate with him. You persuade with stillness, and time for your argument to ring true. You persuade with logic and stories that make your adversary feel emotion. Persuasion is not about you–it’s about them.
TODAY’S CHALLENGE–TRY TO PERSUADE. If you are a leader, a mother, a father, a salesperson, a lover, a friend or anyone who provides a service, you need to know how to persuade. When winning means winning someone over to your point of view, judgment, violence and insistence rarely work. I promise if you focus on empathy, stillness and the other’s perspective, you’ll come much closer to victory.
How will you persuade today?
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