Margaret’s Persuasion Coach Blog
Greed, Envy & Consensus Building, Part II
This two-part article was developed from a program I delivered for the Unitarian Fellowship of Houston on Aug. 5, 2012. In Part I of this article, we learned how humans evolved greedy genes to help them save for a rainy day and envy genes to provide a simple test for...
Greed, Envy & Consensus Building, Part I
This two-part article was developed from a program I delivered for the Unitarian Fellowship of Houston on Aug. 5, 2012. We humans are hard wired for greed and envy because, back in our hunter-gatherer days, these traits helped us survive, both as individuals and as a...
Aug. Resolution: SELF-COMPASSION
In an earlier blog post, and in Bridges to Consensus, I’ve written about humans’ instinctive resistance to being made wrong (criticized or the like). Yet, some of us are only too quick to criticize ourselves, often unjustifiably and to ill effect. Various factors can...
Gearing Down for Communication Success
Stress evolved to serve us in emergencies, like an attack by leopard, but can be counterproductive when dealing with difficult interpersonal dynamics. When a coworker takes credit for your ideas, when your child won’t take no for an answer, or when tech support feels...
Rants & Zingers—Are They Persuasive?
Persuasiveness depends on whom you’re trying to persuade and what you’d like them to do. For a broadcaster concerned about ratings or a political organization looking for contributions, rants and zingers can be effective. But for an individual trying to persuade...
DADA: DATA MINING
“Forward this email to every special woman in your life, and don’t forget to send it back to me so I’ll know…” Have you ever shared an email chain letter like this? It’s hard to resist. You feel as if the woman who sent it to you, who thinks you’re special, will...
July Resolution: Visualize Communication Success
Just as an Olympic athlete visualizes herself going through a ski run or a gymnastics routine, you can improve important communications through visualization. The prospective conversation might be a request for a raise, a discussion with your teenager concerning...
How I Persuaded Microsoft
This week I’m reporting on a successful persuasion experience of my own. Since consensus-building and persuasion skills have become somewhat instinctive for me, after an interaction like this, I like to look back and notice what worked for me, which solidifies the...
From Gratitude to Confidence to Consensus
It’s impossible to overemphasize the value of a calm, confident, positive attitude when pursuing consensus or any important dialogue. Several years ago, I adopted a spiritual practice of expressing gratitude at the beginning of each day and found that it was just the...
The Tech Sabbath and Communication Skill
What's good for your health is good for your communication and consensus building skills. In “A Day of Rest,”[1] actress Leelee Sobieski writes about how taking a weekly break from communications technology improved health and happiness for her and her entire family....