“The Science of Persuasion” is a terrific look at advertising, marketing, and persuasion in the 21st century… I love the Influence at Work YouTube video, and there are so many things I want to teach my students about persuasion based upon this angle. While I have been using Chip and Dan Heath’s Made to Stick as a vehicle to explain persuasion, I think this could be another version of a strong persuasive lesson…
How do you teach “persuasion” to your business students? What resources work best as opposed to the standard Aristotle ethos/pathos/logos approach?
Last week, superteacher Conor Neill emailed me to share the TED-Ed lesson he created. On Monday, the lesson on persuasion finally debuted on the TED-Ed website:
“I wrote ‘Give a TED Talk’ on my bucket list 4 years ago. Today, I feel happy to see the idea come to fruition. It is not a TED Talk per-se… but in my mind, it is almost better because it is a lesson from my class on a concept that is very important today. We are increasingly overloaded with information, but we need to be more and more careful about how we trust this information. We want to connect to the meaning BEHIND the information. As the lesson says, ‘ethos and pathos are missing.’
Check out the video and help me share the message! Leadership today takes much more than finding the idea. Thank you, Conor.”
The entire TED-Ed lesson, including the video, further resources, and a quiz, can be found on the TED-Ed website here.
I just read Switch, and I love the Heath brothers’ ideas about persuasion. Aren’t you guilty of thinking people who hate change are just lazy? I was totally guilty of this mindset before today, but Chip and Dan Heath have me convinced that what might look like laziness is really exhaustion. Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard is one of the best books on persuasion I’ve ever read. The Heath brothers use story and compelling, sticky evidence to prove their points about change. Divided into thirds, the book first focuses on directing the rider (our rational minds). Next, we learn how to motivate the elephant (our emotional minds). Lastly, the Heath brothers teach us to shape the path – a technique that will overpower BOTH our rational and emotional minds, both our Riders and our Elephants.
Made to Stick was the first book written by Chip and Dan Heath. After reading their second masterpiece, I am officially an adoring fan. Their work applies to public speaking and presentation as well as leadership, persuasion, and, of course, success. Though I checked both out from my local library, I just purchased both texts because I need these books in my library… and you do, too!
My wonderful friend and fellow superteacher Chiara Ojeda just posted her Introduction to Rhetoric slides on Slideshare. Check them out! They’re as amazing as she is:
To contact Chiara Ojeda to design the slides for your next presentation, email her at ohmgrrl@gmail.com.
