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Persuaders rule. They always have, they always will. They have enormous power. They accomplish their wildest dreams for wealth, power and influence. Your challenge: Become a great persuader.

What do we know today about persuasion that we didn’t know before? What can you learn that will change your life for the better? What’s new and different?

What’s New And Different?

The difference is simple, dramatic and exciting. With new, live, real time brain-imaging technology, we know definitively how the brain really processes information. We finally know how to influence others’ decisions and actions. And we’ve been doing it wrong for 2,500 years, since Aristotle wrote that the best route to persuasion is through reason, logic and rational input.

Top neurologist, Dr. Richard Restak, author of the book and PBS series “The Secret Life of the Brain” put the lie to that long-held belief stating: “We are not thinking machines; we are feeling machines that think.” Restak adds, “Your brain is not a logic machine. Emotions and feelings about something occur before you’ve made any attempt at conscious evaluation.” Read more…

Several large surveys show that most people believe a logical discussion, with good data and the right logical supporting facts, is the best way to persuade. Often, they break the persuasion process down to three main steps:

1. Present your proposition clearly, with conviction.
2. Present your supporting data, with the right facts, logic and information.
3. Structure your “deals” and move on to closure.

But according to Dr. Jay Conger, Director of the Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California Business School, “Following this process is one surefire way to fail at persuasion.”

Why?

Neuroscientists have recently discovered that the brain waves we emit when we engage in logical thinking (for example, when we solve a math problem) are virtually identical to those we emit when we are forced to plunge our hands and arms into ice water. It’s painful! Further, these researchers have determined that our brains require 300 percent more effort—measured in calories burned—for heavy thinking, compared with “mental cruising.”

No wonder people hate a logical, reasoned approach! Read more…

Why is persuasion the world’s most researched skill? That’s easy—as history shows, it’s the world’s most important skill.

Take a trip back to the Fifth Century B.C., when Athenians were experimenting with a new form of government. The Athenians quickly discovered that to succeed in a democracy, they had to be persuasive. Leaders used persuasion (then called rhetoric) to gain agreement and win support. Everyday citizens used persuasion before a new legal body—the jury.

Recognizing its importance, Athenian scholars, including Plato and Aristotle, began to study the powerful process of persuasion. Circa 435 B.C., they defined three elements of the process of persuasion: Logos, the appeal to logic, reason, and facts; Pathos, the appeal to emotions; and Ethos, the appeal of the speaker’s character and credibility. These scholars found that one or more of these appeals characterize any instance of persuasion.

Aristotle wrote three books about persuasion. Among his conclusions, he stated that logic is the most reliable appeal, and that it is a “human failing” that people sometimes tend to be persuaded less by logic and more by emotion. Scientists are now learning precisely why appeals to logic can be so unproductive. And they’ve learned that Aristotle had it all backward when he defined logic as the most reliable appeal to persuasion. Read more…