Become an Influencer-Learning the Art of Persuasion

Improving on communication skills and influencing is extremely important for potential success.  A paper by Johnson and Young (2012) discusses the concepts of influencing others to achieve objectives. Their advice appears to be practical in the sense that it continues to expand the network creating more adherents. It also takes into account the natural resistance people display and how to overcome those concerns. 

Most people tune out a significant amount of daily conversation and lots of information is lost from one day to the next. To attract someone’s interests it is sometimes necessary to do or ask something interesting. In sales they may call this “making the pitch” but in daily conversation it is more of “tuning in” to potential engagement.

Most people are receptive to things that help them. Explaining concepts through their vantage point and the potential benefits of certain actions helps them to visualize the possibilities. Focusing on encouraging others to engage the solution is helpful to developing personal influence.  You can’t be influential without other people.

Before one can properly influence others they need to have the right questions. This is a process of brainstorming and thinking about all of the alternatives. Asking the right questions can prompt other people to start thinking about the answers and if their answers logically lead to your conclusions you are likely to find support.

Each organization comes with other influencers and connecting them together creates systematic impact. Communicating with opinion leaders and power brokers creates the ability to render converts to a cause and then move those ideas throughout an organization. The more people, who hear, understand and pass on the concepts the more influence that is created. 

People want to quantify the concepts. They want to envision, touch, taste and see the ideas. Speaking in terms of tangibles helps people understand and create a mental framework that solidifies the concepts. This allows them to formalize, ponder, and finally conclude with their agreement.

People want to understand your message. Use the language of your audience. This means using the terms, vocabulary, education level and at times even the slang others use. Helping people understand the message means speaking in a way that allows for easy connection to the concepts. 

It is beneficial to work in a group and allow multiple vantage points and perspectives to make their way into the solutions. Doing so will afford greater allies in your quest. People have varying perspectives and these perspectives can be used to help ensure that concepts make sense to a greater amount of people. 

Developing greater presentations with graphics, charts, and content helps people solidify the information. Just like in sales a great presentation can provide for higher levels of understanding. It can draw interest and put things in a tangible form. 

Don’t believe that you are infallible. Continually learn from your mistakes to improve upon your influencing abilities. Some things work while others do not. If you continue to learn you are likely to improve over time and create greater abilities. 

The report doesn’t talk about truth but it should be included as an influencing argument. People don’t want someone to “pull the wool over their eyes” or “blow smoke” and will be naturally resistant to those who have an unyielding agenda. Rightly so, an over demanding agenda means they have not evaluated the alternatives and their concerns are limited. People want to hear the strengths and potential pitfalls so that they can understand the credibility of the speaker. Those who think they know all the answers usually don’t. 

Johns, W. & Young, N. (2012). Power of persuasion: becoming the influencer. Facilities Manager, 28 (3)

Why Are Students Breaking up with STEM?

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data related to education in the United States and other nations. Their recent report on college student STEM field attrition rates is designed to help understand potential factors of STEM competency loss. Government officials and business leaders are seeking to find ways to improve attrition rates in an effort to maintain U.S. intellectual abilities.

The report found that 28 percent of bachelor’s degree and 20% of associate’s degree students entering into a STEM field within 6 years of entering college in 2003-2004. Biology attracted 11% while math and physical sciences were unpopular at 2-3%. Associate degree seekers (9%) were looking for computer/information sciences that have a higher rate of pay when compared to the other fields. 

A total of 48% of bachelor’s students and 69% of associate’s students left the STEM field by 2009. Interestingly, fields such as education and health had higher attrition rates while those in business and social/behavioral sciences had similar rates.  This seems to indicate that change in education is constant as students become more aware of their options and face educational obstacles. 

Using a bivariate analysis the researchers found other problems beyond typical factors such as demographics, precollege academic preparation, type of universities, course taking and performance. Analyzing the information simultaneously revealed that the type of courses, math courses, and intensity appear to have an impact. Some students were falling out because the courses were too rigorous.

The entrants GPA and class performance were major predictors of dropping out or switching courses. Lower performing students may drop out of class or college but higher level performers may switch to other fields. Students that entered 4-year public universities were more likely to drop out than those who attended private 4-year institutions. Difficulty in entrance to a university had some association with retention. 

The report mainly lists the reason why students either drop from or move away from STEM fields. Some of the findings indicate that ensuring students are prepared before entering such fields and having support while in those fields are beneficial for retention. Likewise, the adjustment of courses to gradually wrap up to more difficult courses within the first few years is necessary to bring students skills to a level needed to compete effectively. Overloading students in the course sequence may cause lower performing and unsure students to drop.

Read Full Report

2014 Annual Business Conference (ABC)

Location & Date:  Hilton Anatole Dallas, TX March 3-5, 2014 

The Food Marketing Institute's Annual Business Conference (ABC) provides a tremendous opportunity for CPG suppliers to interact with their retail/wholesale trading partners. Within the ABC program, participants can communicate strategies, goals, and operational concerns in an effort to achieve greater efficiency and profitability.

Participants:

• C-level and key senior executives for marketing, merchandising and/or supply chain from FMI retailer and wholesaler member companies
• Distributor and supplier senior executives with responsibilities for overall corporate goal-setting, business development and strategic alliances.

WebPage

Immanuel Kant: Critique of Pure Reason-Space and Time

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) believed that both experience and reason are necessary to make knowledge. One without the other does not work well creating situations whereby reason alone is not weighed in time, while experience, without reason, is limited as an in-depth analysis. Kant’s work The Critique of Purse Reason (1781) delves into the nature of thought. 

He makes a distinction between a priori knowledge and a posterior knowledge. A posterior knowledge is that which we gain from experience while a priori knowledge is that which we gain from the universal truths of reason. Scientific knowledge is gained from a priori/analytic reason while experience is gained from a posterior/synthetic reason. 

Kant also moves into the concept of time and space as part of the a priori constructs of the mind. Just like cause and effect is important to understanding so is space and time. It is a process of experiencing the world and making some order out of it. Without cause and effect along with space and time, it will be difficult to make meaning out of the phenomena we experience every day. 

Reason can improve upon the overall process of understanding. By reflecting and examining the various components that make up logical thought formations we have the ability to improve upon them.  As we manipulate our environment, we also gain more information that adds to our logical thought formations.

When we have gained a stronger internal representation of external phenomenon we can say we are using reason and knowledge. This combination affords maximum understanding of our environment. It is a process of continual learning whereby each age can provide higher platforms of reason and knowledge use.  

Intuitions are based within experience. Some psychologists argue that intuitions are instant knowledge drawn from subconscious process. It is the subconscious data that connects and reconnects to make meaning out of its environment. At times, an instant thought or concept can come forward as a solution called intuition.

Immanuel Kant contributed to concepts of human intelligence, psychology, philosophy, and metaphysics. Many other studies have been conducted that back up his arguments. That does not mean he does not have critics but that as a vantage point his philosophies appear to be as valid as any others are. 

Other Reading:

Spark Notes

Stanford

Oswego

Deep Spirits

 

Trust of Each Other is Declining According to a General Social Survey

Made with Electronic Drum Set

What is trust worth? A poll by the General Social Survey indicates that about 1/3 of Americans trust each other. This is a big step downward from a 1972 survey that indicated that about ½ of Americans trust each other. Around 2/3rds say that “you can’t be too careful” dealing with others.  Trust is trending downward and this should concern a number of people.  

Trust can bring some wonderful things in society. The entire economic system and social structure depends on trust. Trust that if you work hard you will receive a reward, trust that people will treat you fairly, and trust that you can walk down the street without injury. Trust is the glue that binds all of society into one neat socio-economic package.

It is hard for people to determine what leads to more or less trust. We can say that its base is a whole host of reasons that may include opportunity, systematic justice, culture, interpersonal relationships, family life or even world events. It is a culmination of these factors that helps create a perspective of life and others.

For businesses the concept that 67% of people put little faith in those who swipe their cards should be concerning. Thinking about how trust is necessary in commerce it should become apparent that those businesses that do not maintain a high level of integrity can be easily punished in the market.  Let a card theft go viral and see what happens.

For politicians it is even worse.  A total of 81% say they put trust in their national political leaders some of the time and 15% most of the time. If you are a leader, this should concern you a little. Just like trust is the foundation of an economy, it is also the foundation of governance. Policies must meet the needs of the people and the betterment of America’s future without any outside or political considerations.

When I think of trust, I like to look at those societal projects that took generations to build. The people who worked on them had generational trust and cross-tribal trust. Stonehenge started in 2,700 BC and seemed to have developed over a thousand years. Even though its background is hazy and in dispute, historians do believe that many different tribes of people were involved in the whole process as a potential peace and unity initiative. If nothing else, each generation should trust that the generation before them has interest in their betterment.

Other Readings:

ABC

USA Today

CS Monitor