Leadership Through the Power of Persuasion

Move Your Influence in a Positive Direction

It is through the influence process that we lead, generate, and manage change. Like most things, the process can be handled poorly or well. It can be employed to foster growth and to move people away from negative choices and in more positive directions, thereby creating the conditions for new opportunities. Or, it can be used clumsily, reducing the chance for genuine movement and, in the worst of cases, boomeranging into conflict and resentment.

As such, it is important for those wishing to lead effectively to understand fully the workings of the influence process. Fortunately, a vast body of scientific evidence now exists on how, when, and why people say yes to influence attempts. In his presentation, Dr. Robert B. Cialdini extracts from this formidable body of work the six universal principles of influence—those that are so powerful that they generate desirable change in the widest range of circumstances. The principles are: Reciprocation, Commitment/Consistency, Authority, Social Proof, Scarcity, Liking and Unity.

After this presentation, your team will be able to:

• Use Dr. Cialdini’s powerful Seven Principles of Persuasion to compel others to say “Yes!” to requests
• Understand how and why using the Seven Principles ethically is especially important and how to apply them optimally as a leader
• Identify how leaders can persuade others without backlash
• Recognize how leaders can use the Principles to most effectively create new teams
• Provide leadership that brings out the leader in others
• Avoid the mistakes that can sabotage a leader’s influence attempts
• Recognize the highly effective piece of “psychological real estate” that exists right BEFORE your influence attempts