Harnessing the Science of Persuasion PDF

Harnessing the Science of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini A LUCKY FEW HAVE IT; most of US do not. A handful / \ of gifted "naturals" simply know how to cap- / \ ture an audience, sway the undecided, and convert the opposition. Watching these m...

Harnessing the Science of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini A LUCKY FEW HAVE IT; most of US do not. A handful / \ of gifted "naturals" simply know how to cap- / \ ture an audience, sway the undecided, and convert the opposition. Watching these masters of persuasion work their magic is at once impressive and frustrating. What's impressive is not just the easy way they use charisma and eloquence to convince others to do as they ask. It's also how eager those others are to do what's requested of them, as if the persuasion itself were a favor they couldn't wait to repay. The frustrating part of the experience is that these bom persuaders are often unahle to ac- count for their remarkable skill or pass it on to others. Their way with people is an art, and artists as a rule are far hetter at doing than at explaining. Most of them can't offer much help to those of us who possess no more than the ordinary quotient of charisma and eloquence but who still have to wres- tle with leadership's fundamental chal- lenge: getting things done through oth- ers. That challenge is painfully familiar to corporate executives, who every day have to figure out how to motivate and direct a highly individualistic workforce. Playing the "Because I'm the boss" card is out. Even if it weren't demeaning and demoraliz- ing for all concerned, it would be out of place in a world where cross-functional teams, joint ven- tures, and intercompany part- nerships have blurred the lines of authority. In such an en- vironment, persuasion skills exert far greater influence over others' behavior than formal power structures do. 72 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW  Jo leader can succeed without mastering the art of persuasion. But there's hard science in that skill, too, and a large body 3f psychological research suggests there are six basic laws of rinning friends and influencing people. OCTOBFR 2001 H a r n e s s i n g t h e Science o f P e r s u a s i o n Which brings us back to where we started. Persuasion cially compelling-similarity and praise. Similarity liter- skills may be more necessary than ever, but how can ex- ally draws people together. In one experiment, reported ecutives acquire them if the most talented practitioners in a 1968 article in the Journal of Personality, participants can't pass them along? By looking to science. For the past stood physically closer to one another after learning that five decades, behavioral scientists have conducted exper- they shared political beliefs and social values. And in a iments that shed considerable light on the way certain 1963 article in American Behavioral Scientists, researcher interactions lead people to concede, comply, or change. F. B. Evans used demographic data from insurance com- This research shows that persuasion works by appealing pany records to demonstrate that prospects were more to a limited set of deeply rooted human drives and needs, willing to purchase a policy from a salesperson who was and it does so in predictable ways. Persuasion, in other akin to them in age, religion, politics, or even cigarette- words, is governed by basic principles that can be taught, smoking habits. learned, and applied. By mastering these principles, exec- Managers can use similarities to create bonds with a re- utives can bring scientific rigor to the business of securingcent hire, the head of another department, or even a new consensus, cutting deals, and winning concessions. In the boss. Informal conversations during the workday create pages that follow, 1 describe six fundamental principles of an ideal opportunity to discover at least one common persuasion and suggest a few ways that executives can area of enjoyment, be it a hobby, a college basketball apply them in their own organizations. team, or reruns of Seinfeld. The important thing is to es- tablish the bond early because it creates a presumption of goodwill and trustworthiness in every subsequent THE PRINCIPLE OF encounter. It's much easier to build support for a new project when the people you're trying to persuade are al- Liking: ready inclined in your favor. Praise, tbe other reliable generator of affection, both charms and disarms. Sometimes the praise doesn't even People like those who like them. have to be merited. Researchers at the University of THE APPLICATION: North Carolina writing in the Journal of Experimental So- Uncover real similarities and offer cial Psychology found that men felt the greatest regard for an individual who flattered them unstintingly even if the genuine praise. comments were untrue. And in their book Interpersonal The retailing phenomenon known as the Tupperware Attraction (Addison-Wesley, 1978), Ellen Berscheid and party is a vivid illustration of this principle in action. Elaine Hatfieid Walster presented experimental data The demonstration party for Tupperware products is showing that positive remarks about another person's hosted by an individual, almost always a woman, who in- traits, attitude, or performance reliably generates liking in vites to her home an array of friends, neighbors, and rel- retum, as well as willing compliance with the wishes of atives. The guests' affection for their hostess predisposes the person offering the praise. them to buy from her, a dynamic that was confirmed by Along with cultivating a fruitful relationship, adroit a 1990 study of purchase decisions made at demonstra- managers can also use praise to repair one that's damaged tion parties. The researchers, Jonathan Frenzen and or unproductive. Imagine you're the manager of a good- Harry Davis, writing in the Journal of Consumer Research, sized unit within your organization. Your work frequently found that the guests' fondness for their hostess weighed brings you into contact with another manager-call him twice as heavily in their purchase decisions as their re- Dan - whom you have come to dislike. No matter bow gard for the products they bought. So when guests at a much you do for him, it's not enough. Worse, he never Tupperware party buy something, they aren't just buy- seems to believe that you're doing the best you can for ing to please themselves. They're buying to please their him. Resenting his attitude and his obvious lack of trust hostess as well. in your abilities and in your good faith, you don't spend What's true at Tupperware parties is true for business as much time with him as you know you should; in con- in general: If you want to influence people, win friends. sequence, the performance of both his unit and yours is How? Controlled research has identified several factors deteriorating. that reliably increase liking, but two stand out as espe- The research on praise points toward a strategy for fix- ing the relationship. It may be hard to find, but there has Robert B. Cialdini is the Regents' Professor of Psychology to be something about Dan you can sincerely admire, at Arizona State University and the author of Influence: whether it's his concern for the people in his department, Science and Practice (Allyn & Bacon, 2001), now in itsfourth his devotion to his family, or simply his work ethic. In edition. Further regularly updated information about the in- your next encounter with him, make an appreciative fluence process can be found at www.influenceatwork.com. comment about that trait. Make it clear that in this case 74 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW  Harnessing the Science of Persuasion at least, you value what tie values. I predict that Dan will and productive persona! relationships in the office: relax his relentless negativity and give you an opening to Managers can elicit the desired behavior from cowork- convince him of your competence and good intentions. ers and employees by displaying it first Whether it's a sense of trust, a spirit of ctwperation, or a pleasant de- meanor, leaders should model the behavior they want to THE PRINCIPLE OF see from others. Reciprocity: People repay in kind. The same holds true for managers faced with issues of information delivery and resource allocation. If you lend a member of your staff to a colleague who is shorthanded and staring at a fast-approaching deadline, you will sig- nificantly increase your chances of gefting help when you THE APPLICATION: need it. Your odds wil! improve even more if you say, Give what you want to receive. when your colleague thanks you for the assistance, some- thing like, "Sure, glad to help. I know how important it is Praise is likely to have a wanning and softening effect on for me to count on your help when I need it." Dan because, ornery as he is, he is still human and subject to the universal human tendency to treat people the way they treat him. If you have ever caught yourself smiling at THE PRINCIPLE OF I a coworker just because he or she smiled first, you know how this principle works. Charities rely on reciprocity to help them raise funds. For years, for instance, the Disabled American Veterans Social Proof: People follow the lead of similar others. , organization, using only a well-crafted fund-raising letter, garnered a very respectable 18% rate of response to its ap- THE APPLICATION: peals. But when the group started enclosing a small gift in Use peer power whenever it's available. the envelope, the response rate nearly doubled to 35%. The gift - personalized address labels - was extremely Social creatures that they are, human beings rely heav- modest, but it wasn't what prospective donors received ily on the people around them for cues on how to think, that made the difference. It was that they had gotten any- feel, and act. We know this intuitively, but intuition has thing at all. also been confirmed by experiments, such as the one first What works in that letter works at the office, too. It's described in 1982 in the Journal of Applied Psychology. A more than an effusion of seasonal spirit, of course, that group of researchers went door-to-door in Columbia, impels suppliers to shower gifts on purchasing depart- South Carolina, soliciting donations for a charity cam- ments at holiday time. In 1996, purchasing managers ad- paign and displaying a list of neighborhood residents who mitted to an interviewer from Inc. magazine that after had already donated to the cause. The researchers found having accepted a gift from a supplier, they were willing that the longer the donor list was, the more likely those to purchase products and services they would have oth- solicited would be to donate as well. erwise declined. Gifts also have a startling effect on re- To the people being solicited, the friends' and neigh- tention. I have encouraged readers of my book to send me bors' names on the list were a form of socia! evidence examples of the principles of influence at work in their about how they should respond. But the evidence would own lives. One reader, an employee of the State of Ore- not have been nearly as compelling had the names been gon, sent a letter in which she oftered these reasons for those of random strangers. In an experiment from the her commitment to her supervisor: 1960s, first described in the Journal of Personality and 50- He gives me and my son gifts for Christmas and gives ciat Psychology, residents of New York City were asked to me presents on my birthday. There is no promotion for retum a lost wallet to its owner. They were highly likely the type of job I have, and my only choice for one is to to aftempt to return the waUet when they !earned that an- move to another department. But I find myself resist- other New Yorker had previous!y aftempted to do so. But ing trying to move. My boss is reaching retirement age, !eaming that someone from a foreign country had tried and I am thinking 1 will be able to move out after he re- to retum the wallet didn't sway their decision one way or tires....[F]or now, I feel obligated to stay since he has the other. been so nice to me. The lesson for executives ftom these two experiments Ultimately, though, gift giving is one of the cruder is that persuasion can be extremely effective when it applications of the rule of reciprocity. In its more sophis- comes from peers. The science supports what most sales ticated uses, it confers a genuine first-mover advantage professionals already know: Testimonials from satis- on any manager who is trying to foster positive attitudes fied customers work best when the satisfied customer OCTOBER 2001 75 Harnessing the Science of Persuasion and the prospective customer share similar circum- likely to direct someone's future conduct than the same stances. That lesson can help a manager faced with the choice left unspoken. Writing in 1996 in the Personality task of selling a new corporate initiative. Imagine that and Social Psychology Bulletin, Delia Cioffi and Randy Gar- you're trying to streamline your department's work ner described an experiment in which college students in processes. A group of veteran employees is resisting. one group were asked to fill out a printed form saying Rather than try to convince the employees of the move's they wished to volunteer for an AIDS education project merits yourself, ask an old-timer who supports the initia- in the public schools. Students in another group volun- tive to speak up for it at a team meeting. The compatriot's teered for the same project by leaving blank a form stat- testimony stands a much better chance of convincing the ing that they didn't want to participate. A few days later, group than yet another speech from the boss. Stated sim- when the volunteers reported for duty, 74% of those who ply, influence is often best exerted horizontally rather showed up were students from the group that signaled than vertically. their commitment by filling out the form. The implications are clear for a manager who wants to persuade a subordinate to follow some particular course THE PRINCIPLE OF of action: Get it in writing. Let's suppose you want your employee to submit reports in a more timely fashion. Consistency: People align with their clear commitments. Once you believe you've won agreement, ask him to sum- marize the decision in a memo and send it to you. By doing so, you'll have greatly increased the odds that he'll fulfill the commitment because, as a rule, people live up THE APPLICATION: to what they have written down. Make their commitments active, Research into the social dimensions of commitment public, and voluntary. suggests that written statements become even more pow- erful when they're made public. In a classic experiment, Liking is a powerful force, but the work of persuasion in- described in 1955 in the Journal of Abnormal and Social volves more than simply making people feel warmly to- Psychology, college students were asked to estimate the ward you, your idea, or your product. People need not length of lines projected on a screen. Some students were only to like you but to feel committed to what you want asked to write down their choices on a piece of paper, sign them to do. Good turns are one reliable way to make peo- it, and hand the paper to the experimenter. Others wrote ple feel obligated to you. Another is to win a public com- their choices on an erasable slate, then erased the slate im- mitment from them. mediately. Still others were instructed to keep their deci- My own research has demonstrated that most people, sions to themselves. once they take a stand or go on record in favor of a posi- The experimenters then presented all three groups tion, prefer to stick to it. Other studies reinforce that find- with evidence that their initial choices may have been ing and go on to show how even a small, seemingly triv- wrong. Those who had merely kept their decisions in their ial commitment can have a powerful effect on future heads were the most likely to reconsider their original es- actions. Israeli researchers writing in 1983 in the Person- timates. More loyal to their first guesses were the students ality and Social Psychology Bulletin recounted how they in the group that had written them down and immedi- asked half the residents of a large apartment complex to ately erased them. But by a wide margin, the ones most re- sign a petition favoring the establishment of a recreation luctant to shift from their original choices were those who center for the handicapped. The cause was good and the had signed and handed them to the researcher. request was small, so almost everyone who was asked This experiment highlights how much most people agreed to sign. T\vo weeks later, on National Collection wish to appear consistent to others. Consider again the Day for the Handicapped, all residents of the complex matter of the employee who has been submitting late re- were approached at home and asked to give to the cause. ports. Recognizing the power of this desire, you should, A little more than half of those who were not asked to once you've successfully convinced him of the need to be sign the petition made a contribution. But an astounding more timely, reinforce the commitment by making sure it 92% of those who did sign donated money. The residents gets a public airing. One way to do that would be to send of the apartment complex felt obligated to live up to their the employee an e-mail that reads, "1 think your plan is commitments because those commitments were active, just what we need. I showed it to Diane in manufacturing public, and voluntary. These three features are worth con- and Phil in shipping, and they thought it was right on tar- sidering separately. get, too." Whatever way such commitments are formal- There's strong empirical evidence to show that a choice ized, they should never be like the New Year's resolutions made actively - one that's spoken out loud or written people privately make and then abandon with no one the down or otherwise made explicit - is considerably more wiser. They should be publicly made and visibly posted. 76 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW  Harnessing the Science of Persuasion More than 300 years ago, Samuel Butler wrote a cou- that, amid the teeming complexity of contemporary life, plet that explains succinctly why commitments must be a well-selected expert offers a valuable and efficient short- voluntary to be lasting and effective: "He that complies cut to good decisions. Indeed, some questions, be they against his will/Is of his own opinion still." If an undertak- legal, financial, medical, or technological, require so much ing is forced, coerced, or imposed from the outside, it's not specialized knowledge to answer, we have no choice but a commitment; it's an unwelcome burden. Think how you to rely on experts. would react if your boss pressured you to donate to the Since there's good reason to defer to experts, execu- campaign of a political candidate. Would that make you tives should take pains to ensure that they establish their more apt to opt for that candidate in the privacy of a vot- ing booth? Not likely. In fact, in their 1981 book Psycho- logical Reactance (Academic Press), Sharon S. Brehm and Jack W. Brehm present data that suggest you'd vote the opposite way just to express your resentment of the boss's Surprisingly often, people mistakenly coercion. This kind of backlash can occur in the office, too. Let's assume that others recognize and return again to that tardy employee. If you want to pro- appreciate their experience. duce an enduring change in his behavior, you should avoid using threats or pressure tactics to gain his compli- ance. He'd likely view any change in his behavior as the result of intimidation rather than a personal commitment to change. A better approach would be to identify some- own expertise before they attempt to exert influence. Sur- thing that the employee genuinely values in the work- prisingly often, people mistakenly assume that others rec- place - high-quality workmanship, perhaps, or team ognize and appreciate their experience. That's what hap- spirit-and then describe how timely reports are consis- pened at a hospital where some colleagues and I were tent with those values. That gives the employee reasons consulting. The physical therapy staffers were frustrated for improvement that he can own. And because he owns because so many of their stroke patients abandoned their them, they'll continue to guide his behavior even when exercise routines as soon as they left the hospital. No mat- you're not watching. ter how often the staff emphasized the importance of regular home exercise-it is, in fact, crucial to the process of regaining independent function - the message just THE PRINCIPLE OF didn't sink in. Authority: Interviews with some of the patients helped us pin- point the problem. They were familiar with the back- ground and training of their physicians, but the patients People defer to experts. knew little about the credentials of the physical therapists wbo were urging them to exercise. It was a simple matter THE APPLICATION: to remedy that lack of information: We merely asked the Expose your expertise; don't assume therapy director to display all the awards, diplomas, and it's self-evident certifications of her staff on the walls of the therapy rooms. The result was startling: Exercise compliance T\vo thousand years ago, the Roman poet Virgil offered jumped 34% and has never dropped since. this simple counsel to those seeking to choose correctly: What we found immensely gratifying was not just how "Believe an expert." That may or may not be good advice, much we increased compliance, but how. We didn't fool but as a description of what people actually do, it can't be or browbeat any of the patients. We informed them into beaten. For instance, when the news media present an ac- compliance. Nothing had to be invented; no time or re- knowledged expert's views on a topic, the effect on pub- sources had to be spent in the process. The staff's exper- lic opinion is dramatic. A single expert-opinion news story tise was real -all we had to do was make it more visible. in the New York Times is associated with a 2% shift in pub- The task for managers who want to establish their lic opinion nationwide, according to a 1993 study de- claims to expertise is somewhat more difficult. They can't scribed in the Public Opinion Quarterly. And researchers simply nail their diplomas to the wall and wait for every- writing in the American Political Science Review in 1987 one to notice. A little subtlety is called for. Outside the found that when the expert's view was aired on national United States, it is customary for people to spend time in- television, public opinion shifted as much as 4%. A cynic teracting socially before getting down to business for the might argue that these findings only illustrate the docile first time. Frequently they gather for dinner the night be- submissiveness of the public. But a fairer explanation is fore their meeting or negotiation. These get-togethers can OCTOBER 2001 77 Harnessing the Science of Persuasion make discussions easier and help blunt disagreements- remember the findings about liking and similarity - and they can also provide an opportunity to establish exp)er- Persuasion Experts, Safe at Last tise. Perhaps it's a matter of telling an anecdote about successfully solving a problem similar to the one that's on Thanks to several decades of rigorous empirical the agenda at the next day's meeting. Or perhaps dinner research by behavioral scientists, our understand- is the time to describe years spent mastering a complex ing of the how and why of persuasion has never discipline-not in a boastful way but as part of the ordi- been broader, deeper, or more detailed. But these nary give-and-take of conversation. scientists aren't the first students of the subject. Granted, there's not always time for lengthy introduc- The history of persuasion studies is an ancient and honorable one, and it has generated a long tory sessions. But even in the course of the preliminary rosterof heroes and martyrs. conversation that precedes most meetings, there is almost always an opportunity to touch lightly on your relevant A renowned student of social influence, background and experience as a natural part of a sociable William McCui re, contends in a chapter of the Handbook of Social Psychology, 3rd ed. (Oxford exchange. This initial disclosure of personal information University Press, 1985) that scattered among the gives you a chance to establish expertise early in the more than four millennia of recorded Western game, so that when the discussion turns to the business at history are four centuries in which the study of hand, what you have to say will be accorded the respect it persuasion flourished as a craft. The first was the deserves. Periclean Age of ancient Athens, the second oc- curred during the years of the Roman Republic, the next appeared in the time of the European THE PRINCIPLE OF Renaissance, and the last extended over the hun- dred years that have just ended, which witnessed the advent of large-scale advertising, mformation, and mass media campaigns. Each of the three Scarcity: People want more ofwhat they can have less of. previous centuries of systematic persuasion study was marked by a flowering of human achieve- THE APPLICATION: ment that was suddenly cut short when political authorities had the masters of persuasion killed. Highlight unique benefits and The philosopher Socrates is probably the best exclusive information. known of the persuasion experts to run afoul of the powers that be. Study after study shows that items and opportunities are seen to be more valuable as they become less available. Information about the persuasion process is a That's a tremendously useful piece of information for threat because it creates a base of power entirely managers. They can harness the scarcity principle with separate from the one controlled by political au- thorities. Faced with a rival source of influence, the organizational equivalents of limited-time, limited- rulers in previous centuries had few qualms supply, and one-of-a-kind offers. Honestly informing a about eliminating those rare individuals who coworker of a closing window of opportunity-the chance truly understood how to marshal forces that to get the boss's ear before she leaves for an extended va- heads of state have never been able to monopo- cation, perhaps-can mobilize action dramatically. lize, such as cleverly crafted language, strategi- Managers can learn from retailers how to frame their cally placed information, and, most important, offers not in terms of what people stand to gain but in psychological insight. terms ofwhat they stand to lose if they don't act on the in- It would perhaps be expressing too much faith formation. The power of "loss language" was demon- in human nature to claim that persuasion experts strated in a 1988 study of California home owners written no longer face a threat from those who wield politi- up in the Journal of Applied Psychology. Half were told cal power. But because the truth about persuasion that if they fully insulated their homes, they would save is no longer the sole possession of a few brilliant, a certain amount of money each day. The other half were inspired individuals, experts in the field can pre- told that if they failed to insulate, they would lose that sumably breathe a littie easier Indeed, since most amount each day. Significantly more people insulated people in power are interested in remaining in their homes when exposed to the loss language. The same power, they're likely to be more interested in ac- phenomenon occurs in business. According to a 1994 quiring persuasion skills than abolishing them. study in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, potential losses figure far more heavily in managers' decision making than potential gains. 78 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW  Harnessing the Science of Persuasion In framing their offers, executives should also remem- suasive power. And if you succeed in bringing your din- ber that exclusive information is more persuasive than ner partner on board, you may encourage other peopie widely available data. A doctoral student of mine, Amram to sign on as well, thanks to the persuasive power of so- Knishinsky, wrote his 1982 dissertation on the purchase cial evidence. decisions of wholesale beef buyers. He observed that they The other point I wish to emphasize is that the rules more than doubled their orders when they were told that, of ethics apply to the science of social influence just as because of certain weather conditions overseas, there was they do to any other technology. Not only is it ethically likely to be a scarcity of foreign beef in the near future. wrong to trick or trap others into assent, it's ill-advised in But their orders increased 600% when they were in- practical terms. Dishonest or high-pressure tactics work formed that no one else had that information yet. only in the short run, if at all. Their long-term effects are The persuasive power of exclusivity can be harnessed malignant, especially within an organization, which can't by any manager who comes into possession of informa- function properly without a bedrock level of trust and tion that's not broadly available and that supports an idea cooperation. or initiative he or she would like the organization to That point is made vividly in the following account, adopt. The next time that kind of information crosses which a department head for a large textile manufacturer your desk, round up your organization's key players. The related at a training workshop I conducted. She described information itself may seem dull, but exclusivity will give a vice president in her company who wrung public com- it a special sheen. Push it across your desk and say, "I just mitments from department heads in a highly manipu- got this report today. It won't be distributed until next lative manner. Instead of giving his subordinates time week, but I want to give you an early look at what it to talk or think through his proposals carefully, he would shows." Then watch your listeners lean forward. approach them individually at the busiest moment of Allow me to stress here a point that should be obvious. their workday and describe the benefits of his plan in No offer of exclusive information, no exhortation to act exhaustive, patience-straining detail. Then he would now or miss this opportunity forever should be made un- move in for the kill. "It's very important for me to see less it is genuine. Deceiving colleagues into compliance is you as being on my team on this," he would say. "Can I not only ethically objectionable, it's foolhardy. If the de- count on your support?" Intimidated, frazzled, eager to ception is detected-and it certainly will be-it will snuff chase the man from their offices so they could get back out any enthusiasm the offer originally kindled. It will to work, the department heads would invariably go along also invite dishonesty toward the deceiver. Remember the with his request. But because the commitments never rule of reciprocity. felt voluntary, the department heads never followed through, and as a result the vice president's initiatives all blew up or petered out. Putting It All Together Tliis story had a deep impact on the other participants There's nothing abstruse or obscure about these six prin- in the workshop. Some gulped in shock as they recog- ciples of persuasion. Indeed, they neatly codify our intu- nized their own manipulative behavior. But what stopped itive understanding of the ways people evaluate informa- everyone cold was the expression on the department tion and form decisions. As a result, the principles are head's face as she recounted the damaging collapse of her easy for most people to grasp, even those with no formal superior's proposals. She was smiling. education in psychology. But in the seminars and work- Nothing I could say would more effectively make the shops I conduct, I have learned that two points bear re- point that the deceptive or coercive use of the principles peated emphasis. of social infiuence is ethically wrong and pragmatically First, although the six principles and their applications wrongheaded. Yet the same principles, if applied appro- can be discussed separately for the sake of clarity, they priately, can steer decisions correctly. Legitimate exper- should be applied in combination to compound their im- tise, genuine obligations, authentic similarities, real so- pact. For instance, in discussing the importance of ex- cial proof, exclusive news, and freely made commitments pertise, I suggested that managers use informal, social can produce choices that are likely to benefit both parties. conversations to establish their credentials. But that con- And any approach that works to everyone's mutual ben- versation affords an opportunity to gain information as efit is good business, don't you think? Of course, I don't well as convey it. While you're showing your dinner com- want to press you into it, but, if you agree, 1 would love it panion that you have the skills and experience your busi- if you could just jot me a memo to that effect. ^ ness problem demands, you can also learn about your companion's background, likes, and dislikes - informa- Reprint R0109D tion that will help you locate genuine similarities and To order reprints, see the last page of Executive Summaries. give sincere compliments. By letting your expertise sur- To further explore the topic of this article, go to face and also establishing rapport, you double your per- www.hbr.org/explore. 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