The Art of Persuasion

By Ross Bonander

The art of persuasion represents the history of shrewd but diplomatic manipulation — getting people over the fence and onto your side without the use of force. Its ultimate goal is basic, but difficult: To convince your audience to internalize your argument, then embrace it as a part of their core belief system.

In his book, Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion, author Robert Cialdini defines six weapons of influence: reciprocation, commitment/consistency, authority, social validation, scarcity, and liking/friendship. Below, we’ll look at a number of persuasive techniques and how some of Cialdini’s “weapons” can be applied, along with some hints from Aristotle and one rather innovative technique offered up by two guys with distinctly Hollywood backgrounds.

Manufacture a need
Attempting to persuade others to believe you when you lack an identifiable urgency is pointless. If the thing you want — support, money, approval — isn’t obvious, you’ll need to make it obvious by manufacturing a profound need and lacing it with urgency. Cialdini’s weapon of scarcity comes into play. He writes, “People find objects and opportunities more attractive to the degree that they are scarce, rare or dwindling in availability.”

Advertisers rely on first creating a need for you (Nothing else can dehydrate your food like a Ronco Food Dehydrator), then on creating the notion of scarcity (and you have five minutes to buy one at this amazing price). In the professional world, you have two such agents on your persuasive side: time, and the indeterminate actions of your competitor. In order to get your audience on your side, you have to convince them of a need they may not be aware they had. For example, you need to get a program off the ground immediately because now is the only time it can be implemented with the best possible results.

Use loaded words
Politicians and advertisers use loaded words every day. Consider the commonly used phrases “war on terror,” “defending democracy” or “all natural.” What precisely do they mean? Not even an effectively drawn-out response could deliver the connection and the true meaning of these terms. In the desire to persuade, meaning itself is often secondary when loaded words are used.
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Bill Gates: The Skills You Need to Succeed

By Bill Gates

One of the most important changes of the last 30 years is that digital technology has transformed almost everyone into an information worker.

In almost every job now, people use software and work with information to enable their organization to operate more effectively.

That’s true for everyone from the retail store worker who uses a handheld scanner to track inventory to the chief executive who uses business intelligence software to analyse critical market trends.

So if you look at how progress is made and where competitive advantage is created, there’s no doubt that the ability to use software tools effectively is critical to succeeding in today’s global knowledge economy.

A solid working knowledge of productivity software and other IT tools has become a basic foundation for success in virtually any career.

Beyond that, however, I don’t think you can overemphasise the importance of having a good background in maths and science.

If you look at the most interesting things that have emerged in the last decade - whether it is cool things like portable music devices and video games or more practical things like smart phones and medical technology - they all come from the realm of science and engineering.

The power of software

Today and in the future, many of the jobs with the greatest impact will be related to software, whether it is developing software working for a company like Microsoft or helping other organisations use information technology tools to be successful.

Communication skills and the ability to work well with different types of people are very important too.

A lot of people assume that creating software is purely a solitary activity where you sit in an office with the door closed all day and write lots of code.

This isn’t true at all.

Software innovation, like almost every other kind of innovation, requires the ability to collaborate and share ideas with other people, and to sit down and talk with customers and get their feedback and understand their needs.

I also place a high value on having a passion for ongoing learning. When I was pretty young, I picked up the habit of reading lots of books.

It’s great to read widely about a broad range of subjects. Of course today, it’s far easier to go online and find information about any topic that interests you.

Having that kind of curiosity about the world helps anyone succeed, no matter what kind of work they decide to pursue.

Bill Gates is chairman, chief software architect and one of the founders of Microsoft, the world’s largest software company. From July 2008 he will end his day-to-day involvement in the company and focus on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and its global health and education work.

The Secret to Setting and Achieving Your Goals

By Linda Nacif

Melissa was a stellar agent in a small real estate agency. After years of being the top earner in her company, she moved from that small agency into one of the largest real estate firms in the country. Melissa felt like she was moving up in the world and had high expectations to achieve even more in her new job. Unfortunately, after a few months of lackluster sales, Melissa felt like she wasn’t living up to it. She couldn’t understand why – she was doing the same kind of prospecting, honing her closing skills and working longer hours. But she didn’t know exactly what her objective was. Melissa was missing a goal. She was trying to achieve a vague dream, without a map or action plan to reach it.

There’s no big secret to achieving what you want out of life. The way to make your goals a reality is by empowering yourself with intellectual, emotional and practical tools, and converting them into habits. Here are the seven tools you need to achieve your professional or personal goals:

1. Define your dream.

Many of us dream about earning more money, getting that promotion or changing careers. Have you ever asked yourself why it is that once you have the additional money, the new position or a different career, you still aren’t happy? The reason is probably because you haven’t defined what your dream really is. It might not be the extra cash but the means to surround your family with comfort; it might not be about getting promoted, but being recognized for a job well-done; changing careers could be because you think that a new career will give you the excitement and enthusiasm you have lost.
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How To Use Your Personal Network For Business?

By Ajith Guptha

There are lot of people who will use their personal network for business. They will get the help of a friend or family member when they desperately need a sale. Also, with the personal network you have tons of people trying to boast your career by having your business cards passed out, and also by having your family and friends put in a good word for you.

First to use your network you have to be a good person. This means that you have to be good and honest about your sales. You will also find that there is a lot of integrity needed for a network to work for you. This means that when someone does you a favor, you give him or her something in return as a favor. When you play the system with honesty and without promising anyone anything special, you will be able to pocket a lot of commission from your sales.

Not only will you want to work on your character, but also the way that you present your business. This means that when you promise to do something you do it with complete honestly. You will find that there is a lot of ways that you can represent yourself as a person with good character, however, make sure that you keep the representation of yourself in a positive light.

In addition, you don’t want to burn bridges ahead of time. You don’t want to do or say anything that might hurt your connection with the network. You will want to treat everyone with respect and thank him or her always for his or her aid with gratitude. The only thing is that sometimes your network might lead you to bad leads or dead ends. This may mean the worst for your sales number if you try to go after a bunch of leads that go nowhere. In suggestion as to not waste your valuable time, you will want to catch up on every lead and let them mellow into something prosperous before you go to pursue them. You may find that you have a guarantied sale, or you may end up having a sale that leads to nowhere, but you will want to learn how to pick the successful leads from the unsuccessful leads.
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