Teaching Executives the Ancient Art of Persuasion

Description

Examining texts by William Lewis Safire and Garth Stein, this article puts forward the value of persuasion and rhetoric for executives. A significant task of executives is persuading people to commit to a corporate plan. Shareholders must be convinced to buy stock. Lenders must commit to loans and debt. Customers need to commit to products. Employees and suppliers must give their best efforts. To get commitments from stakeholders, executives can use the power of their position, logic, charisma and incentives, not to mention fear and threats. But ultimately, when the goal is to persuade people, whatever an executive wants must be communicated. As this article shows, language and its delivery is at the core of persuasion and executives can leverage rhetoric to great advantage.