At one point in my varied professional journey, I found myself in a little known training session in northern New Jersey on the operation of persuasion. Joining me were an odd collection of clearly Washington DC apparatchiks all of who claimed to be from agencies they seemed to know little about, along with private sector consultants, senior sales executives, a television evangelist, a hedge fund manager and two mercenaries from a top drawer outfit.
The instructor was a man of small stature who proved to be the most dangerous person I have ever met. He captured the oxygen in any room he entered and doled out just enough so you would pay attention to his every word and movement.
We proceeded over our time to become aware of rapport, non verbal communication, body language, tone and the power of story telling.
It was an amazing process.
One final pearl of wisdom was handed to us as we left. “All humans seek two things at all times…Certainty and Significance. The entire interaction you have, the first impression and the last one all move them either towards more Certainty about your pitch or less, and is either making them feel more Significant about themselves or less.”
It is true. It also explains why the deplorables did what they did and what they will do in the next election. The elites have done nothing for this group but introduce uncertainty and made them feel insignificant. All the pundits seem to think the path Trump is taking them on is some sort of risky experiment, and the alternative is to return to the old ways.
To these folks, the new path of economic growth and America first leads to more Certainty and they are treated as significant by only one leader.
Violate this truth at your peril. We seem to have the dumbest class of elites since Versailles.
Well, all I can say is, what you said. The depth of misunderstanding and misunderestimating is unplumbable.
“We seem to have the dumbest class of elites since Versailles.”
This may well be the take-away line from this piece. Our “elites” are dumb because this is what they have been taught. No self confidence, no honour, no standing on one’s own two feet. Instead, “it takes a village” – to make you a dolt.
“Dolt” is one of my favorite words. I’ve long railed against the use of “elite” in describing these dolts.
Happy New Year!
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Rah, and HNY, Dev!
And HNY to you too, Devil Dog.