The Secret Skill Shared By All The World’s Great Persuaders
Sales. Marketing. Persuasion. Influence. As businesspeople, we know mastering these skills are essential to success. As human beings, the idea of them often leaves a bad taste of our mouths. Wasn’t it the masters of mass marketing that got multiple generations of kids hooked on cigarettes and sugar? Aren’t the most sinister dictatorships and death cults helmed by those with the most persuasive personalities?
While Big Tobacco and the Bolshevik Party certainly did come about as a result of machinations by master hype artists, the same can be said about the Rolling Stones and the Civil Rights movement. Persuasion tactics are not evil in and of themselves. The reason psychopaths and narcissists tend to be better than the rest of us at getting large numbers of people to do what they want has less to do with the techniques they deploy and more to do with how they manage their states of mind.
Fortunately, there is a way to tap into the psychological power of master hype artists without sacrificing your soul in the process.
Get a website that wins you more business! It’s all in the story you tell and we’ll tell it better. Get purposeful web design & persuasive writing.
5 年In other words, leave my ego behind! So true. I have occasionally had to have my foot surgically removed from my mouth!
Manhattan Real Estate I ??Selling, buying and leasing properties made simple!
5 年I have a target on my chest for every narcissist and psychopath everywhere I go.
Excellent advice and I’ve seen it work first-hand. Since I’ve prioritized healthy eating/no caffeine, daily movement/exercise, sleep/relaxation, and wellbeing/family time, my work days are much shorter yet more effective. I also put my FOMO in check and basically have gotten waaaay better at saying no. So freeing!!!
Excellent article! (I can think of one resident of Washington, DC who could benefit from reading this too!)