Expressing Ideas Persuasively

I was easily the shyest boy in school by a mile. But wanting to be a barrister meant that had to chance, fast. By understanding the key characteristics that academic studies have identified as central to charismatic speaking, speakers can refine their approach to deliver more impactful and memorable speeches. 1. Authenticity: The Foundation of Influence Research by Kouzes and Posner (2002) in "The Leadership Challenge" emphasizes that credibility, derived from authenticity, is the foundation of leadership. Audiences are more likely to be persuaded by speakers they perceive as genuine and honest. 2. Confidence: The Power of Presence Confidence is another key attribute of charismatic speaking, supported by a wealth of research. According to a study by Tskhay and Rule (2014), published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, confidence is often inferred by an audience from nonverbal cues, such as posture, gestures, and eye contact. The concept of "power posing," popularized by Amy Cuddy's research, also highlights how body language can influence both the speaker’s confidence and the audience’s perception of the speaker. 3. Audience Connection: Engaging with Relatability Connecting with the audience is a hallmark of charismatic speaking. Academic research highlights the importance of understanding and addressing the audience's needs. A study by Burgoon et al. (1990) on interpersonal communication found that effective speakers use adaptive communication strategies to engage their audience. This includes adjusting one’s speech based on audience feedback, which can be nonverbal (e.g., body language) or verbal. My approach in Parliament was to maintain eye contact and use inclusive language, which fostered a sense of connection and made the audience feel involved in the discourse. 4. Emotional Appeal: Harnessing the Power of Emotions The role of emotions in persuasive speaking is well-established. Research by Chaiken (1980) in the Heuristic-Systematic Model of persuasion demonstrates that emotional appeals can be more persuasive than purely logical arguments, particularly when the audience is less motivated to engage in deep processing of information. Similarly, the study by Barge and Oliver (2003) highlights how stories and metaphors, which evoke emotions, can make a message more memorable and impactful. In my speech, I utilized storytelling to humanize the policies under discussion, tapping into the audience’s emotions to create a lasting impact. 5. Vision: Inspiring Collective Action Articulating a clear and inspiring vision is essential for charismatic speaking. Research by Conger and Kanungo (1987) in their Charismatic Leadership Theory suggests that effective leaders articulate a vision that not only aligns with the audience’s values but also presents a compelling future state. This vision serves as a rallying point, inspiring collective action.

Here’s a trick for getting someone on board with your idea: distill it into one word. I’ve learned to use this method for many ideas I’d like to see implemented at Duolingo. I’ve told this story before: Early in our journey, I was convinced we needed to offer a subscription option. I would walk around the office and anytime I saw a colleague I’d simply say: “subscriptions.” I probably said it a thousand times per week. Pretty soon, people knew what I cared about, and wanted to learn more. How does one-word persuasion work? It’s similar to the domino effect that I’ve discussed before. Since I don’t have many direct reports, I have to influence people in other ways. People who don’t work with me often are curious about what I care about. Simplifying that into one word (“subscriptions”) gets the message across quickly. OK, there’s a little more to it. It has to be a sound idea—and I never pitch something that I haven’t researched thoroughly myself. And of course, I’d have to initially explain the concept to others (but keep it simple: one of the big data points I used for subscriptions was that 9 out of the 10 top-grossing education apps were subscription products). The key here: I only did this once. The idea was compelling enough that I could share my thoughts one time, and the rest, I’d just have to say the word. I was like a walking practice reminder. Not every idea or word works for this. For example, “AI” is a tough one-word pitch. It can mean so many things, and the action isn’t clear. It’s also fairly obvious—of course we should invest in the latest technology. What makes a good one-word pitch? 1. It should be surprising. At the time, we weren’t exploring subscriptions, so it wasn’t an obvious next step. A surprising word is the best way to spark interest and conversation. 2. The one word should be able to encapsulate the entire idea. “Subscriptions” = we should offer subscriptions. Enough said. 3. It should be “completable”, with an implicit goal attached. Once we launched a subscription product, I could move onto my next word. But if the word had been “AI,” would we ever really be done? (P.S.: If you’ve read “To Sell Is Human” by Daniel H. Pink, he also talks about the “one word pitch.” It forces clarity, and I strive for simplicity in my work.)

🔔 Welcome to Part 3 of the "Speak Like A Pro" series! 🔔 We've been journeying together, exploring the art of storytelling, understanding the crucial role of setting clear communication goals, and mastering the Communication Quadrant. Today, we're diving into the backbone of compelling messages - Communication Structures. 📐 One of my biggest fears in speaking isn't just losing my train of thought; it's losing my audience! When I struggle to find the right words during difficult conversations or presentations, these structures are my lifelines. For instance, when giving feedback to a team member about their performance or disagreeing with someone I'm working with. Have you ever found yourself lost in a speech, overwhelmed by an email, or dazed during a presentation? It likely lacked a clear structure. Communication structure is the skeleton that shapes and supports your message, guiding your audience along a clear path and ensuring they understand and remember your key points. Without it, your communication can end up unorganized and confusing. 🏰 So, what structures can we use? Let's explore: 🔹 Problem-Solution-Benefit: Ideal for persuasive communication. Identify a problem, propose a solution, and highlight the benefits. 🔸 What? So What? Now What?: A versatile structure, great for decision-making, introductions, and giving feedback. State the facts (What?), discuss their significance (So What?), and propose next steps (Now What?). 🔹 Compare, Contrast, and Conclude: Perfect when discussing alternatives or making recommendations. Analyze two ideas side by side, highlight their similarities and differences, and conclude with a final insight or recommendation. 🔸 The Rule of Three: Organize your key points or ideas in groups of three to enhance recall. 🔹 The Story Arc: A go-to tool for storytelling in business. Set the scene, introduce characters, build tension, reach a climax, and wrap up the narrative. 🔸 SARI (Situation, Action, Result, Insight): Effective when detailing experiences. Describe the situation, share your actions, discuss the result, and reflect on the insights gained. It's now time for action! 🚀 Try incorporating these structures into your communication this week. Notice their impact on the clarity and potency of your message. Do you have a favourite? Or is there one you're eager to try out? Share your thoughts in the comments! Stay tuned for Part 4 of our series, where we'll explore understanding your audience. Part 4, coming next Tuesday: Know Your Audience! 🕵️♀️ #SpeakLikeAPro #communication #CommunicationStructures #publicspeaking #tipsandtricks #professionaldevelopment

I once worked for a $300M company that was using spreadsheets to calculate commissions. Compensation plans were informally communicated and, in some cases, documented in PowerPoint. This process was subject to errors, misinterpretation, and even fraud and abuse, so I initiated an RFP. We narrowed down ICM vendors to the company that was the market leader and the one that was the challenger. The leader persuaded on value, reputation, competence, and track record. The challenger spent their time bashing the leader. Needless to say, the challenger turned me off. Bashing is lazy persuasion. When someone tries to convince me that they are the better solution simply because the alternative is terrible, their solution lacks merit. Using fear as a persuasion technique I find equally repulsive (i.e., choose us, or the world will end). That experience led me to study persuasion more formally, and I learned there are basically twelve methods: • Reciprocity: Give something valuable to create a sense of obligation. • Scarcity: Highlight limited availability to create urgency. • Authority: Build credibility with expertise and endorsements. • Consistency: Encourage small commitments leading to larger ones. • Liking: Build personal connections and genuine rapport. • Consensus (Social Proof): Leverage the influence of others' choices. • Emotional Appeal: Connect on an emotional level to make your message resonate. • Problem-Solution: Present your offering as the ideal solution to a problem. • Storytelling: Engage with compelling narratives that highlight benefits. • Contrast: Compare options to emphasize the superiority of your choice. • Urgency: Create a time-sensitive call to action. • Logical Appeal: Use facts and logic to appeal to rational thinking. Among them, Social Proof has been proven to be the most effective because people assume the actions of others reflect the correct behavior for a given situation. It leverages the influence of others' choices, creating a powerful, persuasive impact. Here’s why it stands out: • Trust and Credibility: People tend to trust the experiences of their peers or influential figures more than traditional advertising. • Fear of Missing Out (FOMO): Seeing others benefit from a product or service can trigger a fear of missing out, motivating people to act quickly to avoid being left behind. • Bandwagon Effect: When people observe a large number of others buying or endorsing something, they are more likely to follow suit, thinking that many people can't be wrong. • Reducing Perceived Risk: Knowing that others have had positive experiences reduces the perceived risk of trying something new. Testimonials, reviews, and case studies all serve to reassure potential customers. If you're in sales it will be easier if you sell for the market leader. Check out Robert Greene’s “The Art of Seduction.” Don’t be distracted by the title—it’s really a book about sales. #Sales #Persuasion #Leadership #Communication #Marketing

🧠 Here’s how I transformed the Choice Hacking pitch process from a 4am panic to a confident, methodical, and WINNING practice 👇 We’ve all heard that pitching is about persuasive storytelling. And that ideas win pitches. But that’s only half true. 👉 The challenge of pitching is really the challenge of being REMEMBERED. Once in the room during the pitch. And again when your client is pitching the idea internally. The client needs to leave the room being REALLY CLEAR on what you pitched and why. It needs to be so MEMORABLE they can easily repeat it to their boss (without digging up your PowerPoint or consulting their notes.) // Winston’s Star The late MIT professor Patrick Winston gave an annual lecture where he explained how to package complex topics so that they were easy to remember and share. As the director of MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab he spent decades distilling this approach into a model called “Winston’s Star.” I use this model myself, as well as when I coach Choice Hacking clients on how to use behavioral science & predictive AI to win more pitches. 🧠 Winston's Star says you need 5 elements to be memorable: Slogan + Symbol  +  Salient Idea +  Surprise + Story ---- To illustrate this model, I’m going to use one of the most memorable and persuasive TED Talks of all time, Simon Sinek’s The Power of Why. The idea itself might be debatable, but the packaging is *chefs kiss.* Here's the link if you need a refresher: https://lnkd.in/eRydhK73 🧠 Slogan:  This is a simple, easy-to-remember phrase that summarizes the main idea. It should be repeated over and over and over. ✅ Sinek says, “Start with why” about 100 different ways in 18 minutes. 🧠 Symbol:  This is a visual that people can associate with the message and makes it more memorable (Picture Superiority). ✅ Sinek uses a simple, target-like image with why at the center, and he calls it the Golden Circle. 🧠 Salient Idea:  This is the one idea that pops to mind when someone asks “what was the pitch about?” Slogans and Salient Ideas can overlap or act interchangeably. ✅ Sinek's example: “Why” is more powerful than “what.” 🧠 Surprise:  If you can arouse people’s emotions with a surprise, it makes your pitch more memorable (Affect Heuristic). ✅ Sinek's example: Leaders think their biggest challenge is the “what” and the “how” but actually it’s the “why.” 🧠 Story: We learn and retain knowledge more easily when it’s in a narrative format (Narrative Bias). ✅ Sinek’s example (summarized): "Why is Apple more innovative than any other company? Why is it that Martin Luther King Jr. led the Civil Rights movement? Why did the Wright brothers get credit for manned flight? Turns out that all of these people think, act and communicate the same way - and it's the exact opposite of everyone else… and here’s how I codified it." -- ❤️❤️ Found this post interesting? Give it a like or a share so others can find it too 😀

A quick story to demonstrate the strategic, clarifying power of a well-placed metaphor when you're stuck in a conversation: This week I was having a debate with one of my Duarte teammates about the word "rhetoric." He was lobbying to build it into our SEO keyword strategy, because after all, persuasive communication is what we sell at Duarte. I was pushing back, because in almost a decade of working closely with our customers here, I've never heard a single customer use the word. I suggested it was too academic, and not the natural language our customers search for. To help make his point he tossed in a fast and potent analogy. 🛠️ "Rhetoric is the very basis of what communicators are doing when they're trying to persuade. Not using the word is like being a homebuilder and not using the word 'carpentry.'" OKAY! Now we were getting somewhere in the conversation! Because he used the clever analogy to express his point of view, I was able to see the real crux of his argument. He wasn’t lobbying for rhetoric as an SEO keyword. He was making a deeper point: that rhetoric is foundational, and maybe it’s time we help our customers understand that. He was suggesting it's our job to bring the word—and the skillset—into the conversation. My colleague's metaphor did what great metaphors do: -- It made the abstract feel concrete. -- It reframed the issue. -- It helped us find common ground. In persuasive communication, metaphor isn’t just decoration. It’s a strategic tool. It is, yep, I'll say it, an incredibly powerful **rhetorical device.** Metaphors align mental models. They are short-cuts to clarity when logic alone isn’t enough. If you're feeling stuck in a conversation, try a well-placed metaphor. It might be the bridge to understanding that you need most.

Here's how I make arguments, conversations and presentations that have a better chance of arriving at solutions and outcome. Here's six strategies I use constantly to arrive at mutually agreeable outcomes: #Empathy My perception of empathy is not weakness but a powerful tool for negotiation, understanding others, collaborating. #Prioritise understanding A la Stephen Covey, "Seek first to understand, then to be understood. #Shift Mindset I challenge assumptions and focus on gathering information and building trust-based influence. #Gather Information: I prioritise listening and prompting the other party to share their perspective. I maintain conversation flow: #Summarise frequently I demonstrate comprehension of the other party's position and transition to introducing my perspectives and ideas for discussion. #Tone of Voice: Intercostal diaphragmatic breathing grounds me to convey confidence and sincerity. I find that by thinking and preparing for the moment before I open my mouth, I enhance my communication and increase my effectiveness in negotiations and difficult conversations. Remember that persuasion is not about dominating or overpowering the other party. I want to create mutually beneficial outcomes through understanding, trust, and collaboration. What do you do when you are in "persuasion" mode, which is just about almost everything you do daily, right? #rhetoric #persuasion #communication #leadership (I like finding a spot to sit for a while, look at the "busyness" of life of people rushing, dawdling, walking, skipping, and marvel at our creativity. Yet when it comes to positive communication, most struggle. Hmmmm ... )

𝙇𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚: 5 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙥𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙈𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙇𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙡 𝙎𝙪𝙗𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 (𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚)   Over the years, I have often sat through a hearing where a lawyer files a monstrous written submission. Page after page of dense, winding arguments. The judge flips through a few pages, sighs, and asks something like "𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐥, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭?"   We’ve inherited a habit of over-explaining. Decades ago, submissions were mostly oral. When they became written, the old guard simply transferred their speaking style to paper – wordy, repetitive, and packed with unnecessary details.   But times have changed, and so should our writing.   Here are five ways to make your submissions clearer, shorter, and more persuasive.   1.    𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 – Think before you type. Sketch your main points: key facts, evidence, legal principles, and the heart of your argument. This keeps you focused and stops you from rambling.   2.    𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 – Judges don’t have time for long detours. Don’t bury the gold under piles of background. Put your best arguments front and centre. Don’t just present your arguments in the order they occur to you. Arrange them for impact.   3.    𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐦 𝐔𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 – Fancy words don’t win cases. Clarity does. Ditch the bloated phrases, cut the legalese, and write like an ordinary person to other ordinary people.   4.    𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 – Give the judge a clear path. Well-structured sections and sharp headings make your submission easy to follow.   5.    𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐑𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐲 – Your first draft is always too long. Cut. Then cut some more. If a sentence doesn’t drive your argument forward, kill it.   Legal writing isn’t about showing off. It’s about persuading with precision. The best submissions? Short. Clear. Strong.   So here’s your challenge: the next time you draft a submission, take a step back. What can you cut? What can you sharpen?   Has legal writing become too bloated? What’s your take?    

The most persuasive people I know aren’t pushy. They are EXACTLY the opposite. _____ When I first got into sales, I thought persuasion meant talking until the other person caved. It worked a few times, but not consistently enough to stick with it. I started observing the top sellers I knew and saw a totally different approach: ✅ They asked better questions. ✅ They listened more than they spoke. ✅ They made you feel like you were chasing them. Over the years, I've learned that persuasion is a skill, not a trick. Here are 7 habits of the most persuasive individuals: 1️⃣ They Smile Like They Mean It ↳ A real smile shows you are open and worth listening to. ↳ It puts people at ease and makes you instantly more likable. 2️⃣ They Use Your Name ↳ People light up at their own name. ↳ It makes them feel important and heard. 3️⃣ They Let Their Body Talk ↳ Eye contact, leaning in, open arms. ↳ Your body should scream “I am confident, I am engaged.” 4️⃣ They Start with an Easy Win ↳ Kick off with something they agree with. ↳ Agreement builds trust and trust gets them saying yes again 5️⃣ They Call Out the Downsides ↳ People trust straight shooters. ↳ Acknowledge the risks, then show you've thought them through. 6️⃣ They Listen to Understand ↳ Most people do not listen, they wait to talk. ↳ The fastest way to earn trust is to truly hear them. 7️⃣ They Give You Space to Decide ↳ Smart people want time to think. ↳ If your idea is solid they will come back stronger. Persuasion isn’t just for sales calls. It’s for pitches, partnerships, job interviews, negotiations... Anywhere your ability to influence determines the outcome. And once you've mastered it, they won't even realize you're selling to them. _____

Ever share an idea in a meeting, only to be ignored? Then hear someone else say the same thing and get all the credit? It’s frustrating. It’s unfair. And it happens all the time. Here’s why: 🚨 You’re waiting for permission to speak up. 🚨 You’re not speaking the language of the room. 🚨 You’re not framing your point in a way that resonates. The fix? Here are 3 tips: 1) Learn what matters to your audience. Every team, every leader, every company has priorities. Frame your ideas around them. 2) Make it easy to understand. Complexity kills attention. If they don’t get it immediately, they’ll move on. 3) State your point with confidence, then follow up. If no one acknowledges your idea in the moment, revisit it. “I mentioned this earlier, and I’d love to expand on it.” If you want to be influential, you don’t just need good ideas. You need to make them stick.