Archive: Persuasion
Being Persuasive: It’s about the “we”
An important way to be more persuasive is to develop a sense of connectedness with your audience. Creating a connection with the other person (or people) based on what you have in common creates a powerful sense of “we,” says Robert Cialdini, the Arizona State...
Motivate People to Read Your Persuasive Appeal
Persuasion requires that you first get people to read or listen carefully to your proposal. Just because you write someone a persuasive message doesn’t mean they will read it carefully. Several variables affect the amount of thinking people do when they read a...
Being Likable Can Make You More Credible
To be persuasive, you need to be viewed as credible, and one way people judge credibility is by whether they like you. Credibility is an audience’s evaluation of how believable you are, and the most common ways people gauge credibility are expertise and...Persuasion Tactic: Make Your Expertise Known
When people are making a decision while listening to expert advice, they might stop analyzing and simply accept the advice. People often seek expert advice when they are unsure what to do or what to buy, particularly when there is risk involved, such as when...Potential or Performance, Which is More Persuasive?
What is a more persuasive indicator of future success, a record of accomplishments or the potential to achieve? If you want to persuade your superior to promote you over someone else, should you emphasize what you have accomplished or what you are capable of...By Ken O’Quinn
Focus on Them
Perfect Phrases for Business Letters (McGraw-Hill)
TD at Work — Business Writing for Managers
As a contributing author in this book on leadership, Ken offers insights and tips for managing difficult conversations, providing effective feedback, and being authentic. Order here.
Perfect Phrases for Business Letters (McGraw-Hill)
Provides the right words and phrases for any situation - quickly. The book was reprinted in Japanese because of high-volume sales there.
TD at Work — Business Writing for Managers
The Association for Talent Development invited Ken to write this 22-page booklet for the TD at Work series.
Current Blog Post
Accomplishments or Potential to Achieve: Which is More Persuasive?
If you want to persuade your superior to promote you over someone else, you could emphasize what you have accomplished, …