by Marty Coleman | May 18, 2012 | Anonymous, How To Persuade - 2012 |
Can you find the secret, subliminal, self-advertisement in the napkin today? Let me know in the comments if you find it.
I am not a pacifist. I believe there are times to use force. But there are definitely times not to as well. Trying to persuade a people of something is not a good time to be violent. You may get them to submit, no doubt. But you won’t get them to convert to the idea you want them to.
Force is not always violence. Force can sometimes be verbal or material coercion based on shame, guilt, ignorance, lies. You take away enough of a person’s material sustenance and they will submit to your idea. But you won’t get them to truly believe it, only persuasion can do that. You can manipulate all you want. It can even look like victory for a while. But it will not succeed in the long term.
Persuasion, true honest persuasion, is the result of freedom to argue, debate, talk, reason, ponder, listen, walk away, reject, agree and disagree. And being free from the threat of violence is the only way to do that effectively.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who put a secret self-advertising message in the napkin today.
Quote by Anonymous, who always puts secrets in my drawings and I don’t even know it.
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by Marty Coleman | May 17, 2012 | How To Persuade - 2012, Mark Twain |
I promise you won’t be debauched if you read today’s napkin on day #4 of Persuasion week. Really.
I am a sucker for political speeches. Give me a great orator at his or her best and I will easily be persuaded. I take them at their word, I believe they are sincere in what they say. Then the speech ends and I compare their words to reality. If they don’t match up, forget it. But that doesn’t spoil my joy in hearing the speech. I just put the brakes on and stop myself from being a converted cult member by thinking through the ideas, claims, and goals to see if I really agree or not.
What about you, are you a fan of great speeches, even if you don’t believe a word they are saying once the speech ends?
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Drawing by Marty Coleman
Quote by Mark Twain
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by Marty Coleman | May 16, 2012 | Abraham Lincoln, How To Persuade - 2012 |
If you’re my friend, you’ll read #3 in my Persuasion series. If you aren’t my friend yet, I hope that changes soon!
Have you ever planned a grand adventure with a stranger? Have you ever decided to do something scary, maybe even dangerous, because a stranger asked you to? Not likely. It usually takes a friend to convince us to do crazy things.
It also usually takes a friend if we are going to be persuaded to believe something new, something opposite of what we might have believed in the past. Whether it’s ideas about the universe and God (or no God), politics, cultural affairs or even science, we are much more likely to consider new ideas if it is a friend who sets the idea before us.
Are wanting to be influential? Be a friend first.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who is a friendly fellow and has yet to be President.
Quote by Abraham Lincoln, who was a friendly fellow and was President.
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by Marty Coleman | May 15, 2012 | How To Persuade - 2012 |
WOO HOO! I persuaded you to continue on our ‘How to Persuade’ series!
Imagine if Eve had better persuasive abilities. Perhaps she could have convinced the serpent that it should eat the apple, not Eve (by the way, do you think it was a male or female serpent?). Then what would have happened?
What’s up with the word ‘seem’ in this quote? Does it mean you can just fake listening? Can you just pretend to be open to persuasion or do you really need to be open to it?
I think it’s obvious that at least the author of the quote (Lord Chesterfield, not sure what he was Lord over though) thinks you can just appear to be open to it. The good think about appearing to be open to persuasion is that you eventually actually do become open to it. That is a good thing. It doesn’t mean you are going to fall for anything, or accept something blindly. It simply means you are willing to have a conversation with an open mind.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who does indeed usually think he is right.
Quote by Lord Chesterfield, who, it turns out, was Lord over the County of Nottingham way back in the 1600s. Alas, his Earldom became extinct when his descendent forgot to petition for a writ of summons to the House of Lords, died, and that was that.
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by Marty Coleman | May 14, 2012 | Benjamin Franklin, How To Persuade - 2012 |
I hope I don’t have to persuade you to read my ‘Persuasion Series’ this week at the NDD.
I am not a licensed counselor but I have counseled my family, friends, students, and strangers about all sorts of things for many years. There is one recurring concept I try to persuade them to grab on to when they want something to happen and they have to persuade someone else in order for that to happen. I say this: “Explain to them why it is in THEIR best interest to help you.”
Have you ever watched those reality TV shows where the participant is asked at some point, “Why do you think you deserve to remain in the competition?” The participants will unfailingly say something like, “I really want this.” or “I really need this.” What I don’t hear nearly enough is “Because I know I can help you better than any of the other participants and I want to do that.”
The host and producers of that reality TV don’t care if you need it or want it. They care if you are who THEY need and want. You actually have to convince them of that, not anything else. You have to help them see why it is in their best interest to keep you, not in your best interest.
It’s exactly the same in business, in relationships and in a million other areas. If your reasons don’t meet up with their interests, your reasons really don’t matter.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who has talked his way in and talked his way out.
Quote by Benjamin Franklin, who did the same.
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