Issue No. 444 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting recommends some bunker reading on persuasion. Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams says catchy slogans have a “percussion rhythm” to them. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click on the title to read my 2017 two-part review of The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency.
31 Persuasion Tips From Scott Adams
Really, John? You want me to read a 2017 book by Scott Adams, the Dilbert cartoonist? And is that really a caricature of Donald Trump on the cover? (You fool! You’ll lose half your readers!)
Actually…I’m going to persuade you to read a powerful book on the art of persuasion. Yes, Scott Adams colorfully sketches out the 2016 Trump campaign as his case study, but it’s much, much more than that. I read this persuasive book in November 2017—and just did a second read in February 2020.
It’s now August 2020—but during this Covid-19 lockdown, does it really matter what month it is? In August, I often take a break and feature summer reruns of books you’ve long forgotten. But not this August. Instead I’m calling August 2020 “The Month of Summer Shorts.” I’ll give you my best book recommendations, but short (or shorter) reviews. So you’ll have to do the hard work yourself—actually read the book! After all, you’ve got the time there in your bunker.
SUMMER SHORTS NO. 1:
Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter, by Scott Adams
If your day job involves persuading people, customers, clients, donors, members, or anyone else to move from Point A to Point B—you will absolutely love this book. You’ll also chuckle frequently as you read sections to your coworkers, friends, and family.
My favorite snippets:
• Entertaining. “I invite people of all political perspectives to enjoy this book without getting sidetracked by politics. I won’t be discussing policies except in the context of persuasion. This book isn’t designed to change your mind about politics or about Trump. All I hope to do is teach you some things about persuasion by wrapping it in an entertaining first-person story.”
• Prune Your Sentences. In “How to Be a Better Writer” (see the two-page Appendix B), Scott Adams suggests: “Your first sentence needs to grab the reader. Go back and read my first sentence in this blog. I rewrote it a dozen times. It makes you curious. That’s the key.”
• 31 Persuasion Tips. Adams fertilizes every chapter with one or more persuasion tip call-outs, including Tip 5: “An intentional ‘error’ in the details of your message will attract criticism. The attention will make your message rise in importance—at least in people’s minds—simply because everyone is talking about it.”
• Cognitive Dissonance. “Our egos prevent us from imagining we are irrational 90 percent of the time.” (Don’t skip this 12-page chapter or the two-page chapter on “Confirmation Bias.”)
• Master Persuader. “You should never take financial advice from cartoonists, but let me tell you one thing that feels safe to share: If the CEO of a publicly traded company is routinely described as having a ‘reality distortion field’—as was the case with Steve Jobs—keep an eye on that company. That’s a sign of a Master Persuader.”
• The Persuasion Talent Stack. “He sucked all the attention away from his sixteen competitors, rendering them uninteresting by comparison.” And…“It was pitch-perfect technique, and it leveraged most of his persuasion talent stack.”
• Facts and Reason. “Persuasion is all about the tools and techniques of changing people’s minds, with or without facts and reason.”
• Persuasion Tip 26. “Repetition is persuasion. Also, repetition is persuasion. And have I mentioned that repetition is persuasion?”
Yikes. I promised you a “Summer Shorts” issue—but there’s too much good stuff in Win Bigly. I’ll end with 12 teasers:
• Trump’s provocative style: that’s what New Yorkers call “talking!” (p. 11)
• Intentional typos (p. 23)
• The “McGurk Effect” video (p. 36) [Editor’s note: see also this short video by the author of Brain Rules.]
• CNN’s list of 24 explanations why Trump won in 2016 (p. 52)
• Why plumbers don’t use analogies (p. 58)
• An enormous persuasion mistake during the Republican debates (p. 81)
• “Concepts without images are weak sauce” and “Think past the sale.” (p. 138)
• The border wall: examples of good and bad persuasion (p. 139)
• “Red is the boss of all colors.” (p. 156)
• On catchy slogans that have a “percussion rhythm” to them. “A good sentence sounds good—in a way that music sounds good—independent of the meaning.” (p. 156)
• “How to Use the High-Ground Maneuver” (p. 194-197)
• “Why Joining a Tribe Makes You Powerful and Blind” (p. 205-255)
If I’ve persuaded you, then thanks for ordering from Amazon. Click on the title for Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter, by Scott Adams. Are you a listener? Listen to the book on Libro.fm (9 hours, 1 minute, narrated by Scott Adams).
Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) Does your team have sufficient appreciation for differing viewpoints to discuss books (and concepts) from both sides of the aisle? Then have one team member read about persuasion in Win Bigly and another present insights from my 2009 review of Barack, Inc. – Winning Business Lessons of the Obama Campaign, by Barry Libert and Rick Faulk.
2) For a broad, historical sweep on Washington politics, read my 2008 review of The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington, by Robert D. Novak. The slant—how does an opinion writer persuade?
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The Mindset of the College Class of 2023
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook
The core competency in the Customer Bucket affirms, “We are zealots for researching and understanding our markets.” Over the years, I’ve linked to the Beloit College Mindset List that captured the worldview of each year’s freshman college class (and this mindset list of American history). A year ago, the list was handed off to Marist College (New York) and on Aug. 21, 2019, they published the 22nd edition, The 2019 Marist Mindset List for the college class of 2023 (students born in 2001).
The list is a brilliant customer analysis and I’m wondering why every industry/profession doesn’t’ publish their own annual “mindset” list. By the way, the Class of 2023, variously known as Gen Z, Gen I, Gen Tech, and “The Plurals,” is the first class born in the 21st century. What do you call this generation?
Here’s a sample of 18 of the 60 insights that made the 2019 list:
THE 2019 MARIST COLLEGE MINDSET LIST
FOR THE ENTERING COLLEGE CLASS OF 2023
Shoes, Siblings, and Sex:
• Like Pearl Harbor for their grandparents, and the Kennedy assassination for their parents, 9/11 is an historical event.
• The primary use of a phone has always been to take pictures.
• Nearly half of their generation is composed of people of color.
• There have always been indecisive quadrennial debates regarding the future of the Electoral College.
• Because of Richard Reid’s explosive footwear at 30,000 feet, passengers have always had to take off their shoes to slide through security on the ground.
• They are as non-judgmental about sexual orientation as their parents were about smoking pot.
• Apple iPods have always been nostalgic.
• They may well not have a younger sibling, as the birth rate in the U.S. has been dropping since they were in grammar school.
• They have witnessed two African-American Secretaries of State, the election of a black President, Disney’s first black Princess, and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Baseball, Blackboards, and Books:
• Only two-thirds of this generation identify as exclusively heterosexual.
• YouTube has become the video version of Wikipedia.
• By their sophomore year, their generation will constitute one-quarter of the U.S. population.
• Quarterback Troy Aikman has always called the plays live from the press booth.
• The Apple Power Mac Cube has always been in a museum.
• Most of them will rent, not buy, their textbooks.
• They have probably all been “gaslighted” or “ghosted.”
• Blackboards have never been dumb.
• Cal Ripken, Jr., has always been retired.
Stay tuned. The 2020 list for the entering college class of 2024 will be released before school opens, or shall we say if/when school opens? For more resources and books in the Customer Bucket, visit this webpage.
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CFO PODCAST: John was interviewed by CFO David Beroth for the July podcast, Christian Nonprofit CFO. The topic: “7 Critical Financial Insights the Board Needs from the CFO.” Click here to listen.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. How persuasive is your branding? Do your written and spoken words sound good? Do they have a “percussion rhythm?” Need persuasive inspiration? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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