Persuasion v/s Convincing


When it comes to trying to change people’s minds, most rational people go about it the way Karen Schulz says:
“The first thing we usually do when someone disagrees with us is that we just assume they are ignorant. You know, they don’t have access to the same information we do and when we generously share that information with them, they are going to see the light and come on over to our team.”
No prizes for guessing how successful that approach is!

Atul Gawande points out why that technique doesn’t work:
“But, (Everett) Rogers showed, people follow the lead of other people they know and trust when they decide whether to take it up.”

Ever worse (depending on your point of view), facts and data matter the least if you’re trying to change someone’s mind. Why? Because of the difference between persuasion and convincing, as pointed out by Seth Godin:
“Marketers don’t convince. Engineers convince. Marketers persuade. Persuasion appeals to the emotions and to fear and to the imagination. Convincing requires a spreadsheet or some other rational device.”

But aren’t those just different ways of achieving the same end result? So does that difference really matter? Yes, it does. Because as Jonathan Dunn says:
“We are convinced to think something; persuaded to think & do something.”
One means you believe/like the idea or argument; the other means you also spread the idea.

All of which is why Shane Parrish says:
“If you’re always trying to convince people, you’re doing it wrong.”

Comments

  1. Ramiah KumarJanuary 2, 2019 at 12:09 PM

    I like the points of this brief blog very much. My pick of such points (three in number) are:

    1) The first thing we usually do when someone disagrees with us is that we just assume they are ignorant. [The remedy suggested is the right one, but not many will take that route; mostly people tend to talk, if need be even shout (!), others down.]

    2) Engineers convince. Marketers persuade. (This is my favorite! I know the reason for this. It is possible to have a decent bench mark in engineering. Most domains cannot have this great feature.)

    3) If you’re always trying to convince people, you’re doing it wrong. (This seems very true, from my own observation. Today's media, in particular is very much at it; many people do just the same. Hardy details get presented and one is allowed to arrive at one's conclusions. Yet, the winner will always be, "You are closed minded" to those who persist, "Let me decide for myself". Even a better wording, "Please allow me to have my views" rarely cut much ice.)
    ----------------

    Though the blog doesn't seem to suggest what are the points that could or should prevail to ensure ground for a reasonable way of data and views exchange, the conclusions certainly seem to lie only in one direction: attitude. If that is the truth, I am fully with the purport of this blog.

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