“You not only have to understand fully what you believe … but … you have to try to figure out what the other person on the other side of the table has in mind.” Madeline Albright
Mario Moussa, co-author of The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas and learning director of Strategic Persuasion Workshop: The Art and Science of Selling Ideas, says, “Persuasion isn’t about the strength of your ideas, or your argument. You might have truth on your side and have developed an iron-clad case, but facts and logical arguments don’t motivate people to act. Logic just puts a structure around things we already believe. To change someone’s mind, you need to replace the ‘hyperrational’ with the social, by making a connection.”
Here’s an interesting article from Wharton on the power of influence: