...to achieve promotions to senior positions in IT. Based on personal chats with CEOs and head-hunters. The Top Seven Skills Countdown, over seven days...continuing with the fascinating Number Three, where does one begin to talk about this magic number, well, eh, here...
3 Influence and Persuasion
The question is simple - can you influence and persuade other people? If you can't, then learn how to, if you can, you will do well - you have to master this skill... The three most important things to know about persuading other people (psychologists really do not approve of me sharing this stuff)...
* People are predictable - 95% of your thoughts today will be the same as they were yesterday - so, if you want to know how people will behave in the future, look at how they behaved in the past...
* There is one sad secret that unites us all - people are "lazy" i.e. they want the fast solution, the quick answer, the fast-track
* Discover their white hot buttons - how? By listening to what they talk about most, and get emotional about most.
PS - Know this, always, the funniness of a joke is ALWAYS directly proportinate to the seniority of the person telling it
Tomorrow - if you fall asleep at a meeting, what to say when you wake up...