Welcome to the eighth episode of Minisode Monday! We keep finding so many useful tactics and tips that we want to share with you, but they don't fit into the format of a regular show -- hence, Minisode Monday.
Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World author and recent guest Adam Grant joins us to talk about how we can argue against ourselves in order to make our arguments more convincing.
The Cheat Sheet:- We can lead with our weaknesses, not just our strengths. Adam tells us how serial entrepreneur Rufus Griscom convinced investors to fund parenting website Babble by providing three reasons not to.
- By arguing against ourselves and being forthright with our faults, we show the capacity to be self-critical, balanced, and not delusional enough to believe our own ideas are flawless.
- By listing these problems off the bat, Griscom made it harder for the potential investors to think of problems themselves. "The harder it is to think about something, the less you think it's a real issue," says Adam. "If you really struggle -- if you have to work -- to come up with some real reasons not to invest in this company, you're like, 'This company must not be so bad!'"
- People like to show off how intelligent they are. Since Griscom had already pointed out the problems with his business, it put the investors in the position of demonstrating this intelligence by finding ways to solve these problems -- rather than sniffing out further faults. This turned what could have been a conversation focused on the negative into one that gravitated toward the positive.
- Griscom later used these same tactics with Disney ("five reasons you should not buy Babble"); Disney then bought the company for $40 million.
- To learn more social dynamics hacks like this one, take the Art of Charm Challenge by clicking here, or text CHARMED to 33444.
- Let us know about how you put today's Minisode Monday into practice! Leave a comment below, tweet with @TheArtofCharm in your response, or write to Jordan directly: jordan@theartofcharm.com (he reads everything)!
Show notes at http://theartofcharm.com/podcast-episodes/minisode-monday-8-forthright-with-faults/
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