Scott Adams: In his own words
For regular readers of this blog only, see if you can find a persuader’s fingerprints in this video clip (or the text below it). Then tell me who the persuader is. You’re looking for a one-word tell. See it? Update: For the answer, look for the uncommon word in the title at this link….
Read MoreDonald Trump says he won’t appear at the upcoming debate on FOX if Megyn Kelly is a moderator, and as of this writing, it appears she will be. Some of you asked me how this move by Trump could possibly be a smart thing. On the 2D playing field, Trump…
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Read More“Give me liberty, or give me death!” – Patrick Henry Patrick Henry is one of the founders of the United States, and here we see him using a high-ground move and making his listeners think past the sale. Patrick Henry was a Master Persuader and a patriot. So were the…
Read MoreThis post will make more sense to the people familiar with the systems-versus-goals idea in my book. One of the most powerful systems I have seen involves layering one modest skill on top of another until the effect is something special. For example, I combined the following modest skills into a…
Read MoreAs I have taught you, persuasion can be ranked like this: 1. Identity (best) 2. Analogy (okay) 3. Reason (useless) Bernie Sanders had been operating in the lower two categories along with Hillary Clinton. But his new ad, set to a Simon and Garfunkel tune, is pure identity (America!) and pure…
Read MoreIn late October 2015, Hillary Clinton started playing the gender card. I predicted that her support would start dropping after I heard her play that card in the televised debate. See this graph of her dropping popularity with men in Iowa. That last drop-off in November starts soon after she went full-sexist. In…
Read MoreIf your firewall is being run by the British Government, see the image on Twitter here. Changing topics… My top-performing tweet of late predicts (indirectly) a Trump landslide if he runs agains Clinton. See if you recognize the tell before I describe it. The tell is the high number of likes…
Read MoreMost women in the United States believe they live in a patriarchy. Most men (as far as I can tell) believe they live in a matriarchy. They can’t both be right. Right? But they are both right. Because we all experience our own reality. As a wealthy, single male over 50, I live in…
Read MoreIn the United Kingdom, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn – evidently a Master Persuader himself – made this clever offer to Donald Trump. “I decided to invite Donald Trump on his visit to Britain to come with me to my constituency because he has problems with Mexicans and he has problems…
Read MoreI watched the GOP presidential debate last night. You might wonder how I scored it. In the standard world of 2D politics, where reason matters, perhaps Kasich won. But no one cares about Kasich. Or reason. However, in the 3D world of persuasion, where identity beats analogy, and analogy beats…
Read MoreIf your company firewall is being stubborn, see the image on Twitter here.
Read MoreIf I asked you to describe Donald Trump’s supporters in one word, you might say angry. As I have taught you in the Master Persuader series, if most people have the same explanation for a thing, they’re probably right. Now suppose I asked you for one word to describe what the opponents of Donald Trump…
Read MoreScience says charisma is the combination of power and empathy. That makes sense to me. Powerful people are great to have around, so long as they care about your wellbeing. The powerful can do all sorts of things for you. They can give you jobs, protect you from harm, pay…
Read MoreToday I will poke a little hole in your 2D filter and let you see the third dimension, where the future is sometimes as clear as the present. As most of you know, I predicted every step of Trump’s rise since August, as well as the decline of his opponents, while…
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