There was a couple of sentences in the book that I found very appealing, to say the least. It was on page 37, and it read: "Writers who can think about persuasion at the strategic level will be at a premium. It is clear that a writer who knows how will always have a job. But the writer who knows why will always be the boss." That seems to hold true. As I was reading I was thinking that if everyone were to read this book, they would know way too much about what PR really is and what is all involved in it. But good thing for the PR practitioner that not a everybody has to study the art of public relations.
Persuasion is a very powerful tool, as I mentioned before, so naturally I did some research on persuasion and its amazing powers. The Power of Persuasion, this online excerpt is from the book "The 7 Triggers to Yes", by Russell H. Granger. He also has a website dedicated to his ProEd teachings.
Right off the bat in the excerpt it reads: "The most influential people are those who can effectively get things done. They influence others to agree or comply, to effectively execute goals, objectives and wishes. Success, perhaps survival, for you and your organization hinges primarily on one skill: the power of persuasion—the ability to persuade people to say “yes,” to willingly concur or follow your directions or act on your behalf." The article then goes on to explain how useful and critical persuasion is.
I also read in this excerpt that not only do PR practitioners need persuasion skills, but also everybody that wants to influence someone does. As Dr. Condoleezza Rice said, “Power is nothing unless you can turn it in to influence.”
So after looking through that article and going to Russell's website dedicated to ProEd teachings, I kept hunting for other persuasive communication articles, and came across "Persuasive Communication in Business", well since I am going into business I thought I'd take a look. This article was written by Robert F. Abbott, where he goes over three techniques for increasing your persuasiveness. Paraphrasing the three points, the first point deals with focusing on the other person with whom you are trying to persuade. The second point is to use persuasive words (a site with some good words on it). And the third point is to eliminate any barriers that would effect persuasion.
I also took note of the same sentence you mentioned about people who know how and people who know why. It made me want to study more about the why part.
ReplyDeleteI don't think reading the textbook would necessarily teach someone why, but it would certainly help them to realize they need to know why and then maybe they would analyze the subject more closely.
I wonder if taking this class will teach us the why or if again, we need to figure that out on our own. Great food for thought.