16

A Touch of the Real World

Just as we absorb the basics of something new, just as we become skilled enough to enjoy our accomplishment and dare to venture forth, we are promptly disabused by practical experience. But, if we are well grounded in the basics, we soon rise from rookie to professional competence by learning to cope with reality. So it is with persuasion skills.

Although experience is a great teacher, forewarning can lessen the impact of the nasty surprises, disruptions, and irregularities so generously meted out by those we wish to persuade. This chapter offers samples of a few of the kinds of situations you may face. There are also some helpful advisories on situation variants that I like to call The Strange, The Unpredictable, ...

Get The Anatomy of Persuasion now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.