13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
New Package; Old Ideas, November 4, 2002
This review is from: Change the Way You Persuade (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition) (Digital)
Unfortuantely, the title of this review says it all. In a nutshell, the authors argue that we need to adapt our style--that we need to adapt our persuasive technique--to the audience. This idea has been around since Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle and, unfortunately, this article adds nothing new. The one potential value of this article is that the authors use the "lingo" of business professionals. I would certainly never give Aristotle to my MBA or executive students, but I might consider giving them this article as additional (not required) reading. I certainly found the article to be interesting, and the topic is of tremendous importance to all business professionals. If you are just starting to explore managerial persuasion, then go ahead and give this item a try. My suspicion is that those seriously interested in persuasion will soon find that better resources are available. As an alternate starting point, consider reading Robert Cialdini's article which appeared in HBR a few months earlier (if my memory serves). I humbly claim that Cialdini's work is a better starting point, both theoretically and practically speaking. Additionally, HBR printed an article titled "The Necessary Art of Persuasion" a few years ago and I believe this article may be the best on applied persuasion I have read in years. So give Williams' and Miller's article a try if you are just starting, but don't stop your search with this article. There is some great material out there from our colleagues at HBR, and even more when you start exploring the books available. Happy hunting.
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