The Fundamentals of Selling Ideas through Strategic Persuasion

1. The Fundamentals of Selling
Ideas through Strategic
Persuasion
By: Darin Pastor

2. The Fundamentals of Selling Ideas through
Strategic Persuasion
A veteran of the finance industry, Darin Pastor currently serves as chairman and chief executive officer
of Capstone Financial Group in Southern California. Darin Pastor holds a master of business
administration from the University of Liverpool and has consistently sought out other opportunities for
advancing his education, including several certification programs at the Wharton School of the
University of Pennsylvania. One of these programs focused on strategic persuasion, looking at the
selling of ideas as both an art and a science.

3. The Fundamentals of Selling Ideas through
Strategic Persuasion
Becoming a good persuader largely depends on building credibility, self-awareness, and
organizational intelligence. Credibility encompasses sincerity, trustworthiness, and expertise. Through
self-awareness, leaders can develop emotional intelligence and the ability to communicate more
effectively, while organizational intelligence helps leaders assemble a strong team.

4. The Fundamentals of Selling Ideas through
Strategic Persuasion
Outside of these factors, selling an idea requires leveraging authority, not to make people comply, but
to achieve cooperation. Strategic persuasion entails informing people of the motivation behind an idea,
which in turn requires understanding a problem, its causes, and the proposed answer. In convincing
people that the proposed solution is the best solution, leaders must work within corporate cultures
rather than against them.