CHAPTER   1   

Persuasion Fundamentals

The Basics You Need to Know, and Why You Need to Know Them

“Will you do it?”

The surrounding offices were still and dark. Even the up-and-comers had gone home for the evening. An ancient vacuum’s tortured whine pierced the quiet as the nighttime custodial crew worked its way down the hall. The hum of the cheap fluorescent lights overhead added an interrogation-room quality to the discussion.

Sally Matheson, the marketing vice president in charge of the project, waited patiently, her calmness masking the fact that a multimilliondollar project’s deadline hung on the answer to the question she’d asked just minutes ago. IT Vice President Peter Simmons—the best in the organization, maybe the business—had heard ...

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