{"id":54485,"date":"2021-11-10T15:39:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T19:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=54485"},"modified":"2021-11-17T11:27:49","modified_gmt":"2021-11-17T15:27:49","slug":"how-to-be-persuasive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-be-persuasive\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Be Persuasive and Always Get What You Want"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is the secret to mastering <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-persuade-people\/\">how to be persuasive<\/a>? What is the danger in using psychological tricks to persuade people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You master how to be persuasive when you learn to use the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/cognitive-heuristics\/\">psychological biases<\/a> of people to get them to do what you want. This is how brands exploit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/social-proof-examples-cialdini\/\">social proof bias<\/a> of fans to get them to buy products promoted by their favorite celebrities. However, leveraging the psychological biases of people can backfire when it is done too transparently or it is used to achieve immoral ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read on master how to be persuasive and get people to do what you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How to Be Persuasive<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want people to do something, often asking them to do it won\u2019t get the best results. Mastering how to be persuasive means <strong>taking<\/strong> <strong>a more oblique path, especially leveraging the psychological biases we covered in the <\/strong><strong><em>Poor Charlie\u2019s Almanac<\/em><\/strong><strong> book<\/strong>. We\u2019ll cover two examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, Munger gives the example of Captain Cook, who knew his sailors suffered from scurvy. He learned that Dutch ships had less scurvy, and also noticed that they ate lots of sauerkraut (which, possibly unknown to him, contained vitamin C). But touch, ornery English sailors were unlikely to eat sauerkraut, given the rivalry with the Germans and Dutch. Cook also knew he couldn\u2019t tell them to eat sauerkraut to prevent scurvy, since this would tip them into thinking the voyage would be so long they had to mutiny instead. So he relied on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/social-proof-theory\/\">social proof<\/a> and exclusivity\u2014he gave sauerkraut to the officers\u2019 table only, but not to the main crew. The crew looked on enviously, until Cook relented, allowing the crew to eat sauerkraut one day a week. Soon he had the entire crew eating sauerkraut happily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second, suppose you\u2019re advising clients who are prone to breaking laws and committing fraud. You have two typical options: 1) decide to quit and not work for him any further, 2) decide that you\u2019re not morally culpable given that he\u2019s doing the cheating, and acquiesce to work for the sake of your mortgage. Instead, Munger argues for a more convincing third option\u2014appeal to his self-interest. Tell him that he can\u2019t commit his widespread fraud without other people knowing about it, and so he\u2019s making himself vulnerable to blackmail and scandal, which will ruin his company, his money, and his family. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/appeal-to-self-interest\/\">Appealing to self-interest<\/a> can often work far better than rationalization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: For more on appealing to a person\u2019s self-interest, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people\/fundamental-3\">check out the advice in the classic <em>How to Win Friends &amp; Influence People<\/em><\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Psychological tricks like this can be powerful, but there is a line at which it can become immoral. And if you do this too transparently, using tools that the other person is aware of, he won\u2019t trust you again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the secret to mastering how to be persuasive? What is the danger in using psychological tricks to persuade people? You master how to be persuasive when you learn to use the psychological biases of people to get them to do what you want. This is how brands exploit the social proof bias of fans to get them to buy products promoted by their favorite celebrities. However, leveraging the psychological biases of people can backfire when it is done too transparently or it is used to achieve immoral ends. Read on master how to be persuasive and get people<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":12036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,104,12],"tags":[533],"class_list":["post-54485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-marketing","category-relationships","tag-poor-charlies-almanack","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Be Persuasive and Always Get What You Want - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is the secret to mastering how to be persuasive? 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Here is how to use the psychological biases of people to get them to do what you want.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-be-persuasive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-10T19:39:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-17T15:27:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/sell-solutions-not-products-challenger-sale.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1366\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joseph Adebisi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joseph Adebisi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-be-persuasive\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-be-persuasive\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joseph Adebisi\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d8daf45671a09e8745a7a9f50a03b2a0\"},\"headline\":\"How to Be Persuasive and Always Get What You Want\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-10T19:39:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-17T15:27:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-be-persuasive\/\"},\"wordCount\":486,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-be-persuasive\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/sell-solutions-not-products-challenger-sale.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Poor Charlie&#039;s Almanack\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication\",\"Marketing\",\"Relationships\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-be-persuasive\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-be-persuasive\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-be-persuasive\/\",\"name\":\"How to Be Persuasive and Always Get What You Want - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-be-persuasive\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-be-persuasive\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/sell-solutions-not-products-challenger-sale.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-10T19:39:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-17T15:27:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"What is the secret to mastering how to be persuasive? 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