The art of influencing - is it actually an art or something we can learn?

The art of influencing - is it actually an art or something we can learn?

Humans by nature are influencing each others independent from the context. At work the ability to influence others and to be aware of being influenced by them is becoming more and more key. In most of current jobs we can not just command others to do something for us, but we only can influence them towards certain goals. But how does it work? Many of us do that in a natural fashion and can not really name and explain how they are doing this. Others struggle.

My colleague Constantin Gonzalez Schmitz (Thank you!) recommended a book on the subject, which really opened my eyes. All of the sudden I had names for mechanisms of influencing, understood how and why they are working and also have been equipped with defence mechanism to stand up unwanted influence from others.

The book is, Dr. Robert Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. In the book he examines the psychological principles that drive human compliance and decision-making. Through extensive research and real-world observations, Cialdini identifies six universal principles of influence:

reciprocity,

commitment and consistency,

social proof,

authority,

liking, and

scarcity

Those principle are exploited by compliance professionals (e.g., marketers, salespeople, fundraisers) exploit to elicit automatic responses. They leverage deeply ingrained cognitive shortcuts, or “click and run” behaviors, which allow individuals to navigate complex decisions efficiently but also make them vulnerable to manipulation. Cialdini emphasizes that understanding these principles enables both ethical persuasion and defense against exploitation.

And this is not just for compliance professionals. Those are context independent as the are hard wired in the human nature. The Click and Run Behaviour is explained as the Psychology of Automatic Compliance. Cialdini introduces the concept of fixed-action patterns, preprogrammed behavioural responses triggered by specific stimuli, to explain how humans often act on “autopilot” in decision-making. These automatic responses, termed “click and run” behaviours, evolved to help individuals manage information overload but are frequently exploited by compliance practitioners. For example:

The word “because” in requests (e.g., “May I cut in line because I’m in a rush?”) significantly increases compliance, even if the reason provided is nonsensical.

Retailers use price contrast (e.g., showing an expensive item first) to make subsequent prices seem more reasonable.

Charities send small gifts (e.g., personalised address labels) to invoke reciprocity, increasing donation rates.

I highly recommend this book to any human who is embedded in a context of humans - which is hopefully all of you. While those principles are context agnostic, I think it is a valuable exercise to break them down for different context, e.g. private relationships, your specific role in work context and possible more. Anyone of you have already read the book and applied it to their daily life? Would love to learn about your experiences!

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