The meaning of Persuasion is something meant to get you to do or believe something. It is a very slow and subtle transition in a person’s perspective or belief pattern.
Persuasion is an art where we try to change a person’s deep rooted thought pattern by our views, words or actions. Statistics and facts can influence a person’s logical reasoning, but to make the person have a transition or change in heart the technique needed is to influence their emotions and beliefs in the subconscious. This feat can be achieved by storytelling. Storytelling is an art where we enter the message through the heart and into the intellect.
“Stories are one of the most powerful forces of persuasion available to us, especially stories that fit in with our view of what the world should be like. Facts can be contested. Stories are far trickier”
You can succeed in persuading people on an intellectual basis. This is generally not enough as people are not inspired to act by reason alone. Ever imagined why King Solomon was considered the wisest king. He was one of the best storytellers of the world. If your target is to persuade with conviction, you have to use storytelling as a medium.
“Scratch the surface in a typical boardroom and we’re all just cavemen with briefcases, hungry for a wise person to tell us stories.”
— Alan Kay, Hewlett-Packard executive and co-founder of X
Reports, facts, statistics and information can influence our brains, it can persuade us on an intellectual basis. If you want to create a following you need to make them believe you, get impassioned with your cause, become a co traveller in your journey, then persuade them with a story. Make them rise and follow you.
The biggest texts of persuasion our religious books, The Bible, The Gita, The Quran are all in the form of stories. Have you ever thought that they could have just written the preaching’s and lessons and saved themselves a lot of time and energy? They were written in the form of stories to inspire us to side with the good. To make us a part of their journey in the quest of truth and sustenance. These gospels have sustained through times immemorial.
Next time you need to persuade somebody tell them a story.
