To be more persuasive, say less... permalink

Well, sort of. Organizational psychologist Niro Sivanathan presents that the audience of some information will effectively average the points being made. If irrelevant or weak points are made with a strong point, the overall perception of the information credibility is lower than if solely the strong point was presented. This is known as the dilution effect.

I can think of a few examples from my past where I wasn’t as persuasive as I wanted to be and probably because my points weren’t as well-formed as needed to maintain the credibility of my position.

In my industry, the people I work with are often paid to think through the edge cases and extrapolations of any of the work we do. So it would seem that by not addressing some of those points, even though weak, would leave me at a disadvantage.

My simple solution: own up to those weaker points and ask for their help to research them. Especially if someone brings it up without prompting, odds are they’re the right person to help fill in the information gaps. This doesn’t mean they’re there to help prove you right - just to fill in the missing details which might end up changing the course of action.

Be brief. Choose quality over quantity. And be humble about not having all the answers.