| |
Archive for the ‘persuasion’ Category
Monday, November 7th, 2011
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe receive updates via email. Thanks for visiting - LaRae.
 Image by ewanjudecolinchristian via Flickr Today’s culture places an enormous value on image. As a result, images have become a powerful persuasive form of communication. For many, our understanding of the world is conveyed not through words, but by reading images.
We are continually influenced by the images presented in media and by the images projected by people who surround us.
Image and Ego
(more…)
Tags: communication, image, image makers, persuasion, persuasion and image, persuasive, persuasive communication, persuasive speech, trendsetters
Posted in communication, persuasion | 3 Comments »
Monday, October 31st, 2011
 - Image via Wikipedia
Persuasion can be a seduction. If we use small steps to communicate our ideas to others, we can persuade them to move in our direction.
The word seduction is something we pay attention to. On the other hand, the seduction process is something we rarely notice. Seduction is a series of small steps—steps so small that we’re unaware of it happening.
“Don Draper from Mad Men”
(more…)
Tags: active commitments, communication, communication skills, persuade, persuading others, persuasion, small steps
Posted in communication, persuasion | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 26th, 2010
Robert Pattinson is best known for his role as smoldering and kind-hearted vampire in the “Twilight” movie series. He is smoldering in a different way in his new movie “Remember Me,” a PG-13 romance in which his character smokes. This has stoked renewed criticism over the role movies play in contributing to the popularity of smoking among teens and young people.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report last week showing that scenes of smoking in movies had declined over the past five years. However, a recent New York Times article indicated that more than half of all PG-13 rated movies still showed smoking. And it’s the PG-13 rated movies that are of particular concern because they are the ones that teens view the most. The more on-screen smoking they see, they more likely they are to pick up the habit themselves.
The herd instinct is strong in all of us. We see others do it and we want to follow. We don’t want to be left behind—or left out—and these roots go deep to the heart of survival because herds show us how we fit in with others. Even the toughest “loner” is influenced by people—either face-to-face or through the media—who share similar interests and activities to their own. The challenges for you and me are ones of balance: the wisdom of collective thinking vs allowing the crowd to exert too much influence on our thinking.
Tags: Centers for Disease Control, collaboration, collective wisdom, crowds, FBI, smoking teens
Posted in decision making, personal achievement, persuasion, self development | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
Michelle Obama rarely makes a false move, but the response to her recent vacation in Spain proved that critics are willing to treat her like other political figures who “step in it” when they veer off the beaten path. It can get smelly and even toxic if left to linger for too long. Some of the criticism has been harsh and Michelle has even been compared to Marie Antoinette who, when told of high unemployment and rising healthcare costs, suggested the little people eat cake.
Or something like that.
Growing up on a cattle ranch in Wyoming, I know first hand how unpleasant “stepping in it” can be. Our corrals were full of “it” and it’s stickiest when fresh. It doesn’t help that as Americans are settling for staycations, in an economy that also smells bad, the first lady is seen recently visiting private Spanish beaches and kicking up her Manolo Blahniks. As New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd observed, if she wanted a beach trip, she could have gone to New Orleans and helped clean up a pelican.
During my FBI firearms training, I learned the importance of minimizing the impact of a bad situation as soon as possible. Wait too long, and the damage can be irrevocable. These tips can work for FBI agents, Michelle Obama, and you.
(more…)
Tags: Alan Greenspan, communication, Eleanor Roosevelt, Marie Antoinette, Maureen Dowd, Michelle Obama, New Orleans, New York Times, persuasive, Spain
Posted in communication, decision making, personal achievement, persuasion, self development | No Comments »
Monday, August 16th, 2010
When a Jet Blue flight attendant grabbed a couple of beers, took a step, and slid out from under the humdrum routine of his job last week, it sparked fantasies among more than a few of us—in the back recesses of our dark little minds—of doing the same thing. We experienced guilty pleasure, but only from a safe distance, because you and I are the lucky ones to have a job, even if that means an idiot for a boss or a lousy commute.
The story about Steven Slater and his response to a passenger on a Jet Blue flight that swore at him and hit his forehead with the door of an overhead compartment has hit a nerve with many of us. We’ve all felt the exasperation that comes from not being heard, not being appreciated, and not being respected.
Part of us root for the underdog here, but there’s a reason we keep those thoughts in the dark recesses of our mind. The point at which we let a negative emotion control our behavior is not a pretty picture. It leads to responses that are both unattractive and destructive. In the worst scenario it can lead to violence; even in the best, it leads to broken relationships.
My bet is that tension had been building up inside Steven Slater for a long time. Like all of us, he could choose how to respond to the frustrating and insulting situation on Jet Blue. He chose a knee-jerk reaction that cost him his dignity and his job. But he could have taken the high road, instead of a meltdown that led to the road to unemployment, if he had taken the time to realize that his response could have been predicted, and therefore, changed. By looking at similar situations in the past, and discovering his patterns of behavior, he could have recognized the undesirable ones before they sabotaged his career, and chosen a better alternative. (more…)
Tags: choices, FBI, FBI firearms training, flight attendant, Jet Blue Airways, predicting behavior, Steven Slater
Posted in decision making, personal achievement, persuasion, self development | 1 Comment »
Monday, August 9th, 2010
Spy movies come in two forms: Ian Fleming 007 violence or John le Carre melancholy realism. In both genre’s, however, it is the look and feel of the movie that offer so much texture to the experience, not the words. The way that James Bond looks at a woman; the way George Smiley nods his head. The meaning of their messages doesn’t need to be explained. We can observe—and more importantly, interpret—the meaning of each non-verbal communication.
Alas, real life spies aren’t always as clever at recognizing the dangers around them as those in the movies. The Russian spy ring lived in America among the neighbors who didn’t suspect anything out of the ordinary. And yet, the FBI had surrounded them with undercover agents and human informants for over ten years.
On July 24th, 2010 Russia’s Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin said that he had met with the Russian agents swapped in an exchange with the U.S. He expressed his admiration for them and said that they had a very tough life in America. Not only did they have to master a foreign language as their own, he said, they also had to think and act like foreigners.
Secret agents can be taught to say the right thing, but it’s much more difficult to teach them to feel and react in a way that doesn’t betray their true inner feelings. This is how we know a good actor from a great one: they can convey the complexity of their feelings through body language, without having to say a word.
(more…)
Tags: communication, FBI, non-verbal, Russian spy ring, secret agents, spies
Posted in communication, personal achievement, persuasion, Russian spy ring, secret agents, self development, spies | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
The talent of eavesdropping is greatly underappreciated. There are so many important, and really interesting, things we can learn if we pay attention to the conversations around us—particularly those we’re involved in. Listening is hard work and few of us know how to listen really well.
FBI agents used covert techniques such as wiretaps, bugging devices, and surveillance to collect information about the dirty dozen—the 12 Russians identified as spies in June 2010. Covert techniques are effective because the information gathered is unfiltered—that is, it’s candid and unrehearsed. It allows the FBI to catch a spy unaware; in other words, in honest communication.
Tags: body language, FBI, persuasion, Russian spy ring, speech, verbal response
Posted in Lifestyle, personal achievement, persuasion, Russian spy ring, secret agents, self development, spies | No Comments »
Friday, July 30th, 2010
An image of the FBI making an arrest gets our attention. We sit up a little straighter as we look to see whether the criminal is someone we know—or, for some of us, maybe a relative. We cheer for the good guys and feel good about our tax dollars being put to good use.
Most people go into a mild shock when they’re arrested. It’s a traumatic experience even for a hardened criminal. When the mild-mannered Russian spies were arrested in June 2010, it was unexpected, and therefore, sent shockwaves through the jail cells of the would-be secret agents like a tsunami washes over a beach. It didn’t take long for all of them to plead guilty and settle for deportation.
A sudden shock gets our attention. I call it the Theory of Inoculation because inoculations get the attention of our body’s immune system by introducing a small dose of the disease. This jolts the body into action and antibodies are produced to protect us against further infection. In the same way, an extreme suggestion can introduce an idea that is initially so shocking that we welcome “middle ground” as a desirable alternative.
This is a technique used with great success by retailers, ex-spouses, and terrorists. I ran across this letter and think it gives a perfect example of how extreme suggestions can work in the way we communicate ideas:
(more…)
Tags: communication, FBI, personal achievement, persuasion, Russia, self development
Posted in personal achievement, persuasion, Russian spy ring, self development | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
Thomas L. Friedman recently commented in a New York Times editorial that it was not an honor to be spied upon by a country as broken-down as Russia. I’m hoping the 11 Russians charged as sleeper spies in America didn’t read it; they might have felt insulted by Friedman’s assertions that Russia is no longer our peer, except in nuclear weapons that are not likely to ever be used. Can his words persuade us that America has nothing of value to lose to the Russians?
I worked as an FBI counterintelligence and undercover agent for twenty years. I agree with Mr. Friedman that Russia cannot steal America’s commitment to individual freedom, rules of law, and a culture that celebrates immigrants and innovators. I also agree with other columnists and writers who question why Russia would spend so much money on 12 sleeper spies who accomplished so little during their decade-long presence in America.
But I also think Mr. Friedman and others are naïve in their understanding of Russia’s intelligence gathering operations in America and elsewhere in the world. And they’re spreading this naïveté to unsuspecting readers who trust journalists and reporters to educate them on newsworthy events of the day.
Here is an example:
(more…)
Tags: counterintelligence, Espionage, FBI, New York Times, opinion leaders, persuasion, Russia, Russian spy ring, Thomas Friedman, undercover agent
Posted in decision making, opinion leaders, personal achievement, persuasion, Russian spy ring, secret agents, self development, spies | 2 Comments »
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
 - Image by Tony₂ via Flickr
We love a good yarn and Russian spy stories have fascinated us for years. We’ve come to expect complicated plots, lots of action, and a predictable ending. So when the Russian spy ring was arrested in June 2010, we put down our John LeCarre novels and watched a really good story unfold before our very eyes. A femme fatale fascinated all of us because we’ve come to expect one from a spy stories. We’ve seen enough James Bond movies to have a clear idea of the life of a secret agent, or at least we think we do—disappearing ink, undercover FBI agents, and a web of deception. For that matter, many of us have preconceptions about FBI agents, too.
Let me give you an example from my own experience:
The target of one of my investigations (a Russian spy in the United States) met a mild-mannered American who wore Italian suits, drove German cars, and got weekly manicures. The American was erudite and spoke eloquently about the importance of being true to our passions in life. Rarely did the conversation veer from the topics of philosophy and personal growth. He seldom voiced a political viewpoint. The spy came to feel a deep bond of trust with him.
Unfortunately for the spy, this man was also an FBI undercover agent. The spy’s perception of an FBI agent was a gun toting, polyester clad investigator who wore cheap shoes and drove American-made cars. The agent didn’t fit into the way the spy was taught an FBI agent would think, look, or act. The Russian spy made a generalization when he met the undercover agent. What is a generalization? It is a decision we come to so fast that we do not have time to think about it. Many times we do not even know why we make the judgment and yet it is strong enough that we decide to act upon it. Generalizations are not rational calculations based on time spent analyzing the choices. Generalizations are rules of thumb that have been incorporated into our way thinking through time and past experiences. They rely on very simple cues from our environment. What are some of the common generalizations you make without thinking about them? (more…)
Tags: FBI, FBI undercover agents, generalizations, influence, persuasion, Russian spy ring
Posted in default, persuasion, Russian spy ring, secret agents, self development, spies | 6 Comments »
|
|
|
|
 |
