The Power of Persuasion at Work

The Power of Persuasion at Work, Love & Play

Edward Brown, M.S., of Core Edge Image & Charisma Institute provides questions and answers about the impact of persuasion on your personal and professional life.

Q: Based on your research on charismatic leadership, what does this research say about persuasion?

Brown: Well, the human experience from birth to death is all about attempting to gain something you need or desire from someone else.  As a baby, you are persuading your parents to feed you through crying. On your deathbed, you are persuading loved ones or a Higher Power to grant you a pardon on your shortcomings. The sum total of your happiness is based on your ability to gain pleasure through persuasion. 

Q: So, is it safe to say that most people generally do not have full and happy lives, because they lack the ability to persuade?

Brown: The short answer is “yes” with an explanation. Your ability to persuade someone to date, marry you, or obtain a job promotion rests on your ability to create positive emotions within the person who has something you want. In a corporate setting, when two people have equal qualifications, the person who has engendered emotional good will to a decision-maker will advance faster than the one who has not.  

Q: Is there a first step to embracing the power of persuasion?

Brown: The first step is realizing that people act on emotions and justify their actions through reason. If you do not attempt to tap into the emotional needs of other people, persuasion cannot take place. In my workshops, I break down the four (4) basic personality types and how to engage them persuasively. I particularly like the work of Kevin Hogan who breaks down these types succinctly. 

Q: Is there a second step to the power of persuasion?

Brown: I approach the idea of persuasion from a philosophical perspective over mere steps. If you embrace the idea that people, fundamentally, are concerned about their self-interest, the most effective persuasive act you can accomplish is to feed their self-interest. That means putting your own self-interest on the back burner. This one act alone will get you all the love and money you desire over a lifetime.

Q: How did persuasion become a compelling idea in your life?

Brown: I was like most people in my selfishness. And in some respect, I still am. However, what was transformational for me was that I began experiencing more personal and professional success when I focused more on other people. Said another way, I realized my aspirations through giving more people what they wanted.  It makes no difference whether you are a “people person” or very self-absorbed, your ambitions will be manifested exponentially, when these ambitions flow through serving the needs of others. Why you desire to serve those needs is irrelevant as long as people feel they are not being manipulated.  Once persuasion is exposed as manipulation, the game is up. If you have problems with people, you had better become a good actor. This is a cold and competitive world.  It's hard to trust and allow yourself to become vulnerable. Once you change the way you see yourself on the world's stage, you will use persuasion as a way of gaining leverage.  The important thing is to get involved with creating an ideal life for yourself. You can either win on purpose or lose by default.   

To enroll in an upcoming, “The Power of Persuasion at Work, Love, and Play Webinar, visit: http://elearning.coreedgecharisma.com/events

The Inner Game of Charismatic Leaders

Edward Brown, M.S., of Core Edge Image & Charisma Institute provides questions and answers on the mental inner workings of charismatic leaders.

Q: In the past, you said that your core passion was getting into the minds of charismatic leaders. How do you do that?

Brown:  I essentially observe the behavior of individuals who have a preternatural way of capturing imaginations that appear surreal to the average individual. Once I lock into what these individuals are doing, I attempt to explain behavior by using the tenets found in philosophy, psychology, sociology, history, and theology. 

Q: So, what are charismatic leaders doing consciously or subconsciously to be successful in their endeavors?

Brown: Fundamentally, charismatic leaders solve problems they find compelling.  If there is a difference between the charismatic leader’s approach to a problem compared to the average individual, it is that the charismatic leader becomes a zealot for the solution.  The average person does not care that much about the solution to a problem to make it a cause.

Q: What is the charismatic leader’s “inner game?”

Brown:  The charismatic leader’s inner game is Machiavellian or amoral in that whatever is required to achieve certain results will be utilized.  People and resources become expendable to achieve a goal.

Q: Well, that doesn’t sound positive or does it?

Brown: Conventional wisdom suggests that people should not be used to facilitate an objective. However, in every human endeavor throughout the world, people are being expended to facilitate a particular result every day. On some level, whether it’s a question of war, security or finance, people are being used to affect the will of the nation state. Charismatic leaders do a better marketing job of gaining greater commitments by inspiring the hearts and minds of individuals around an objective.

Q: What do charismatic leaders understand more deeply than traditional leaders?

Brown:  Charismatic leaders have an understanding that men have a will to power. Nietzsche said that God was dead and all that was left was the amoral superman.  In some respect, the charismatic leader is the amoral superman. Charismatic leaders address the hard-wired need of people to worship heroes as postulated by philosopher Thomas Carlyle. If there isn’t a God, people will invent one.  The insatiable need for charismatic leaders to understand human nature underscores their clarity of purpose. The relationship is symbiotic, the people want to adore a leader and the charismatic leader wants to be adored.

Q: What happens when the human frailties of charismatic leaders overtake their God-like persona?

Brown: The charismatic leader that goes so far as to believe his own hype usually causes his own demise.  Followers will either become disillusioned and lose faith or consciously overlook the frailties of the leader and focus on his iconic exploits.  Either way, there is a seismic shift in the social landscape when the charismatic leader departs, unlike any other leadership model.

Related: Charisma