Do you have the power of persuasion? Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design/Flickr At the end of the day, your ultimate professional success could rely on one basic thing — getting people to do what you want. The trick is, being persuasive without adopting dishonest or manipulative tactics. However, no matter who you are and what industry you’re in, the ability to influence others is crucial. Here are nine methods for persuading others — some might seem a bit tricky, but they could provide a serious boost to your career: 1. Always have a good visual handy A picture’s worth a thousand words. As Forbes previously reported, Dartmouth University’s Brendan Nyhan and Georgia State’s Jason Reifler ran a study looking into strongly held political convictions. The researchers presented information that contradicted with the worldview of the study participants — hoping to see what it’d take to persuade them. Subjects didn’t respond well to a written summary of evidence or attempts to assuage their self-esteem and make them feel comfortable. However, all isn’t lost. According to the study, charts were actually persuasive. This won’t always be easy — it’s not like you’ll always have a chart or a powerpoint on hand whenever you need to convince someone of something. However, this is an important to keep in mind. Cold facts and personal connections won’t always do the trick — sometimes, a visual presentation is the edge that you need to sell your point. You don’t even have to get too…more detail
