Three Lessons From Scott Adams’ Win Bigly
If you’ve read any of my previous articles, you know that I’m a huge fan of Scott Adams. The creator of Dilbert is not only insanely insightful, but he also has a lot of concrete advice that we can implement in our day to day lives.
One of the earliest political commentators (and definitely the only cartoonist) to predict a Trump win, he has gained a fair amount of credibility — especially in the field of persuasion.
In fact, he was the first person to coin the term persuasion-filter through which he sees the world.
When you see the world through the persuasion filter a lot of things start making a lot more sense.
Here are three key-lessons, from looking at the world through the persuasion-filter.
1. People act on emotion — not facts
The point that Adams makes, is that humans don’t make decisions based on reason or facts. We make decisions based on our feelings. When we buy a car, we don’t buy based on how fast it goes, or how fuel-efficient it is — we buy based on how it makes us feel.
We might say that we buy a car based on fuel-efficiency, but really we’re buying it, because it makes us feel good, when our friends admire us for being environmentally conscious.
People act based on how they feel. Essentially, we are inherently biased towards seemingly random things, such as being attracted to height and energy.
This means we are pre-disposed to viewing people such as Donald Trump or Tony Robbins in a favorable manner, because they exhibit traits which makes it easier to survive.
Is this rational? Far from it.
But when you view the world through this filter, seemingly non-sensical things suddenly make a lot more sense.
2. Persuasion requires three things
Good persuasion is based on simplicity, images and repetition.
Let me repeat that.
Simplicity.
Images.
And Repetition.
If you want to get your message across, that is what you want to emphasize. Look at Trumps election campaign — specifically his message about the wall.
See how it works?
It’s visual — you can’t not think of a wall, and you picture the one that is inherently specific to you.
It’s simple — he is really talking about border control, but that’s too complex and not specific enough. A wall is much simpler.
It’s repeated. Trump repeated the idea of the wall ad nauseum, and that’s part of the reason why some people found him persuasive.
Remember:
Simplicity.
Imagery.
And repetition.
Those are the keys to persuasion.
3. Good persuaders match their audience
If Trumps election can be boiled down to a single factor, it is that he understood his audience better than anyone. He seemed to understand the struggle of the working American, and he has said as much repeatedly. Numerous people who’ve voted for Trump have stated that they liked how he knew what they were struggling with.
Let’s be real for a minute — The Donald has never experienced the life of a blue collar American, but he was able to relate to the struggle of unemployment and low middle class life nonetheless.
How did he do that?
He matched his audience.
He put words to what many people were feeling.
And in so doing he was able to guide them towards voting to him.
Powerful stuff.
And a sign of a truly great persuader if I ever saw one.
Go read it right now.
