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If you want to be persuasive, learn to choose, manage, and assemble your words. Your goal is to be as precise as an atomic clock.
The power of words was known from antiquity. Around 950 B.C., the Biblical Solomon wrote, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold on displays of silver.” Homer spoke of an even earlier time, “… when he let the great voice go from his chest, and the words came drifting down like the winter snows, then no other mortal man beside could stand up against Odysseus.”
Words matter. If you want to be persuasive, spend time developing a good, solid vocabulary. Not necessarily a knowledge of technical jargon or a knowledge of esoteric words, but develop a knowledge that can choose between “affect” and “effect,” between “hypothesis,” “theory,” and “conjecture.” Few things are more pleasing to the intellect than the choice of the right word. The master of words, the late William F. Buckley Jr., was accused in a debate forum of using a longer, more arcane word when a simpler word would have meant the same thing. The wry Buckley countered by alleging his five-syllable word maintained a rhythm that would have been lost with the shorter, three-syllable word. You do not need to achieve that level, but work at it.
It is powerful to have the ability to “turn a phrase,” so to speak. This ability to say meaningful things in memorable ways is a valuable asset to persuasion. Whether speaking or putting the presentation into text form, work ever so diligently to select the word or phrase that precisely connotes your meaning.
Avoid being trite or cute.
In his Confessions, Saint Augustine describes a renowned and brilliant orator, Faustus, with whom Augustine has waited years to discourse. He is delighted to learn that the venerated Faustus will finally travel to Carthage and converse with Augustine and other scholars. The famed speaker arrives, the students are set, and Faustus begins his discourse. Augustine is bitterly disappointed, writing,
“[The ideas Faustus presented] seemed to me none the better for being better expressed, nor true simply because they were eloquently told. Neither did I think that a pleasant face and a gifted tongue were proof of a wise mind. A statement is not necessarily true because it is wrapped in fine language or false because it is awkwardly expressed.”
Note that Augustine talks to both sides of the issue. Expressing a concept with pith and wit does not make the concept true. Contrariwise, expressing a concept poorly, with poor grammar does not make the concept false, but neither does it make it understood. The former leans toward something that is labeled “spin,” trying to convince an audience using élan, wit, or intimidation instead of content. This is the stereotypical “salesman” approach. This error is not often encountered in technology wizards, as they are prone to be brutally honest. The problem-child for the technology wizard is the latter error, the inability to express true, but complex, technology issues in a way that decision makers can understand and appreciate.
Recall the moving speech by Patrick Henry at the Second Virginia Convention and his final, stirring phrase we all can recite, “Give me liberty or give me death.” It was a moving exhortation and an example of choosing the right words. However, in general, as a speaker, Henry had a fatal flaw. Here is how Thomas Jefferson described his speeches. “His eloquence was peculiar, if indeed it should be called eloquence; for it was impressive ad sublime, beyond what can be imagined. Although it was difficult when he had spoken to tell what he had said, yet, while he was speaking, it always seemed directly to the point. When he had spoken in opposition to my opinion, had produced a great effect, and I myself had been highly delighted and moved, I have asked myself when he ceased: ‘What the devil has he said?’ I could never answer the inquiry.”
I have heard technologists who were in the same club. They were awe-inspiring when speaking and everyone loved to advertise them as keynote speakers at a conference. Yet, afterwards, one remembered only the impression, not the endowment, of greatness. The output of persuasion it to have the decision maker take some action in your behalf. In order to do this, the thoughts and actions must be transplanted from the speaker into the decision maker. It is not sufficient to be eloquent, the verbal framework must enclose content of value.
Content is paramount. It is imperative that the wizard technologist makes transparent, understandable presentations that are rooted in sound content. All the style, techniques, and methodology are wasted if the content is weak. Ensure that the content, the facts and data, are true, validated, and solid. Then, and only then, work on delivery. Never purvey unsound technology.
Choose your words for impact and imprint. Make no mistake. Words count. Do not let the Grail-Knight-decision-maker end your presentation by saying, “He chose poorly.”
Contact: lgivens@thepersuasivewizard.com.