Pre-suasion vs. Persuasion

Source: If you want to influence people don’t try to persuade them. Use ‘pre-suasion’ instead. – LA Times

I like this idea of basically doing what Eminem did in 8-mile—where you preemptively mention the worst thing that was being thought and then counter or dismiss it.

It’s powerful because it mostly removes it as a weapon for your opponents.

But I actually prefer another technique, which I wrote about in The Other Half of Changing Someone’s Opinion.

Source: The Other Half of Changing Someone’s Opinion

So I get this preemptive thing—it’s cool. But it seems to me more like a tactic than a strategy.

A strategy is to make sure you’re in a discussion and not a debate, meaning you’re both genuinely willing to change your minds.

If you’re not, what’s the purpose of the interaction?