I begin my tryst with HBR articles with HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Communication. The very first article happens to be on the power of persuasion — Change The Way You Persuade – Gary A Williams & Robert B Miller. Read the article here.
I have penned my learnings on this topic below, which in retrospect might be merely the tip of the iceberg, just as my understanding of the matter.
Lessons Learnt
Lesson 1: We can have fool-proof data and fervent arguments to support that data, however, we may not be persuasive enough because we may not be aware of the most effective style of presentation.
Lesson 2: There are 5 types of decision-makers who exhibit differentiated behaviours and characteristics. Being aware of these subtle differences can substantially help improve our chances of tipping the outcome in our favour.
Lesson 3: It was a lightbulb moment to realize that the authors’ research and analysis led to the fact that almost 36% of the researched CEOs were “Followers”, while the “Charismatics” formed only 25% of the group. It did feel a little anticlimactic as the tabular descriptions of each of them made me believe otherwise.
Lesson 4: Although for a novice like me, I was initially confusing these approaches with the Myers-Briggs personality test, however, upon completing the article I realized that these are broad descriptions of a person’s dominant personality when it comes down to making complex & tenacious decisions.
In the comments section please feel free to mention any other learnings that you may have taken from the article, which I may have completely missed.
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