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Persuasion
Making a case: evidence and its presentation, pre-wiring, building a coalition, and recognising when persuasion has failed.
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01
When Persuasion Fails
Recognising an unwinnable case early preserves the capital you will need for the next one. The most expensive mistake is continuing to argue after the room has decided and you have not noticed.
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02
Building a Coalition
Support assembled by trading away substance produces a proposal that passes and does not work. The useful coalition is built on different reasons for the same action, not on compromise.
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03
Pre-Wiring
Most decisions are settled before the meeting. Working inside that reality is ordinary practice; the line between preparation and manipulation is whether the meeting can still change the outcome.
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04
Evidence and Its Presentation
More evidence is frequently worse. Volume signals anxiety, invites methodological argument, and buries the two figures that would have decided the matter.
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05
Making a Case
Persuasion is structured argument addressed to somebody else's criteria. Enthusiasm persuades nobody who is not already inclined, and the case that works is usually built around the obstacle rather than the benefit.