Mr. Rogers and the Power of Persuasion

Mr. Rogers and the Power of Persuasion
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Two Saturdays ago, YouTube recommended a video by Will Schoder called “Mr. Rogers and the Power of Persuasion.” With a title like that—I had to watch. Two weeks later, I am still so glad I did.

Mr. Schoder takes 23 minutes to:

  1. Outline why our attempts to shift people’s opinions so often fail;
  2. Explain the principles that improve our ability to change others’ minds;
  3. Show us an example of these principles at work by way of a 1969 Senatorial debate between Fred Rogers (yes, that Mr. Rogers) and Rhode Island Senator John Pastore.

The whole video is SO GOOD. But watching Mr. Rogers win over the no-nonsense Pastore is the particular thing that will stick with me forever. There are so many management best practices embedded in this video—I would argue you cannot afford to miss it.

I know that 23 minutes is a long time, and I understand if you’d rather not make time for this video, but frankly, ignoring it is your loss.

Max is the CEO and Founder of Lessonly, the world’s leading team learning software. Lessonly helps thousands of learners around the world do better work by translating important company knowledge into lessons that improve team productivity.

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