Have you ever been in a situation where you had all the arguments, tons of data points and several dozens of powerpoint slides but after an hour of explanations and “information” you didn’t get the expected response or approval of your audience?
This is a common place at any modern meeting room during this powerpoint era.
Did it feel like a matter of life or death? Something very similar happened to an astrologist centuries ago.
Let’s take a look at it and see what we can learn about it.
I know it It may sound extracted from a Game of Throne’s scene, but it is told that this actually happened at King’s Louis XI court.
Long time ago, it happened to be an astrologist in France, his fame preceded him, to the extent it came to the Court’s ears.
At some point in time, the astrologer predicted a woman would die shortly. Around a week later the woman died, surprising both believers and detractors.
As any supernatural power, it can be admired or feared, so the King ordered the astrologer must die.
Of course it would not be a simple duty. He commanded his guards to throw the astrologer through a high tower window.
The astrologer was captured and brought to the King, where he asked him a final question: “You claim to master the science of astrology and therefore you can predict fate. Please tell us now what your fate will be. How long will you live?
The astrologer looked calmly at King Louis and said: “I shall die just three days before Your Majesty.”
After the mandatory dramatic silence, King Louis changed his mind. Instead of killing the astrologer, he embraced the astrologer under his protection for many years where he became respected, feared and consulted.
The astrologer reframed the problem within the King’s emotional compass. He changed the focus from the speaker to the audience.
As professionals, we tend to use figures and numbers to support our ideas. (Sadly, at many times too many numbers that we completely loose the topic and intention of our audience). We train our teams to believe the more numbers we present the best “shielded” the argument is an we sill surely get a YES.
But we forget WHY something is important to the AUDIENCE, and we appeal to sell a solution rather to engage with a common reason.
Today’s big lesson from our medieval astrologist is: When using persuasive arguments you must appeal to your audience’s emotions first (humanity), and then to their logic (data).
If you want to learn more about this powerful techniques, take a look at “The 48 Laws of Power” by Rober Greene