Archive: Persuasion
Heady Topper Beer: Persuasion’s Scarcity Principle at Work
The popularity of Vermont’s Heady Topper beer is a classic example of persuasion’s scarcity principle at work: People are persuaded to act when an item is in short supply. Heady Topper is a craft beer, sometimes called a microbrew, that is made and sold...Using Flattery to Persuade
If you want someone to comply with your request, try using flattery to persuade. Flattery, compliments and exaggerated tributes, are among numerous ingratiation tactics that people use to induce someone to perform a particular behavior. Flattery brightens a...Persuasive Writing: Consider How Many People Will Evaluate the Message
If you send a persuasive message to a group, consider two important factors: the strength of your argument and the number of people who will process it. For persuasive writing to be effective, an audience needs to be motivated to read the message (or hear it). And one...Credibility: Being Persuasive is about More than the Message
People often decide how to respond to your persuasive message based not on the content but on your credibility. If you sit down to write a persuasive message, you probably focus on carefully selecting the right words and emphasizing the appropriate points. But the...Persuasion vs. Propaganda: Not Exactly the Same
People often perceive persuasion and propaganda to be one and the same, but there are important distinctions. Both are tools that attempt to influence an audience’s thinking, and it’s true that cult leaders and dictators are among the best persuaders because they use...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
Passive Voice is Not Always Wrong
The passive voice remains an easy target of business writing critics, but sometimes it is preferable to an active sentence. …