Garrett
Communication Strategy Worksheet
Stage One: Planning a Message
Audience
Describe them.
Purpose
Why?
Focus
Narrow your possibilities.
Emotion
What emotion is the audience’s take away?
Format
Written: letter, email, memo, etc.? Verbal: face-to-face, phone, etc.?
Approach
Direct or Indirect
Introduction
Purpose statement/preview statement/scope/attention getting statement
Body
List the points you need to make, then group/rank them in paragraph order.
Conclusion
Close it how.
Visuals
More than narration. Brain is 30% to visual processing.
I want the job. Thesis statement & set up points 1, 2, 3.
Topic sentence. Supporting evidence.
Topic sentence. Supporting evidence.
Topic sentence. Supporting evidence.
I request an interview. You may reach me at….
Basic Application Letter Construct
5 Paragraph Letter Format
While there are multiple ways to approach writing an application letter, we focus on this construct and I expect your work to be in the 5 paragraph construct.
You need an introduction that states you want the job. You need a body that describes how you have the ‘things’ they require and conclude with asking for an interview and offering your contact information. The next three slides offer more details on the sections.
1
Introduction –
State you’re apply for the job
If possible state some-kind-of connection to the organization
State a summary sentence (thesis)
Spark interest. Create curiosity.
Audience-centered attitude
Application Letter Construct
The introduction of an application letter is as important as all other first impressions. Remember, they are feeling you as they read, so create the experience through your words that you want them to have.
In the intro,
Be direct (remember that means telling upfront what you want – your purpose). State the job and your interest. Saying what you want in an assertive manner demonstrates confidence.
If you have a connection with that organization, talk about that, but be every-so-brief.
State a summary sentence – All communications need a thesis statement. And in that thesis statement inform the reader regarding specific focus – preview the 3 items you will detail in the body.
Create curiosity. Build their interest in you in the way you language.
Remember, once again, I tell you – be audience-centered. It’s about your contribution, not you.
Oh, and, this paragraph is NOT to be the longest one on the page. Typically it the second smallest with the conclusion being the smallest.
2
Application Letter Construct
Body
Choose your points by studying the advertisement and selecting the top three requirements. Write to how you have these three.
Be thinking:
How do I set myself apart?
The key to getting called for an interview is in the connection you make in your letter. The winning strategy is to understand your potential employer’s top 3 qualification requirements and write to those items. Here’s how.
Study their .
For many of them, beginning a job search seems to be a challenging task. There are 3 simple questions you may ask yourself before beginning your search.
What do you really want to do?
What do you need to do?
How can you get started?
In Springboard Talent, we focus on helping professionals like you by providing coaching, strategies and systems to attract your ideal job. Traditional job search methods are no longer effective. Welcome to the New Rules of Job Search. With understanding of the entire hiring process, you will be able to tap into more than 80% of the hidden job market.
For many of them, beginning a job search seems to be a challenging task. There are 3 simple questions you may ask yourself before beginning your search.
What do you really want to do?
What do you need to do?
How can you get started?
In Springboard Talent, we focus on helping professionals like you by providing coaching, strategies and systems to attract your ideal job. Traditional job search methods are no longer effective. Welcome to the New Rules of Job Search. With understanding of the entire hiring process, you will be able to tap into more than 80% of the hidden job market.
“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily”, said by the popular televangelist Mike Murdock. Once you arrive at the torturous decision of changing your career, do not waste more time dwelling on the rationale behind this decision.
Get all your acts together and think of better ways of giving yourself a set of career skills that can gear you up for a new life and a new career.
Beefing up your career skills is rather an essential step of achieving true success. There are some secrets that will aid you in acquiring these skills.
Learning these secrets can be very beneficial indeed.
Once you have learned all these secrets, you are on your way to enjoying a better career, a sense of stability and more money. All of the time, energy and efforts in strengthening your career skills will be well worth the investment.
By strengthening your career skills, you can become one of the potential candidates that employers are looking for. Thus, it is important to pay attention to these secrets.
One of the first steps of acquiring a new set of career skills is arranging funds that allow you to attend a university or school. This is a big step to moving forward for you to obtain a new set of skills.
Taking it a step further than college is also important. You may want to check out some extracurricular activities such as clubs or maybe even participate in a volunteer event. These are just a couple of examples that can be very beneficial.
Although obtaining new career skills means spending money and time, the outcome will be most beneficial. Keep in mind, it will be a difficult task and will require longer hours.
There is also a plethora of courses that can help in getting your foot in the door to your career. You can gain specialization and expertise in a specific activity or field. Some institutions also offer courses that are highly effective in establishing a career. They are reliable in arming yourself with a set of career skills. It is important to look into many schools and check to see what each offers.
Through constant training and practice, you will be on your way to embarking on a new career. Beefing up your skills is proven to provide long-term benefits and offer you a stable job.
Learning and development are also needed in meeting the challenging demands of a career. There are some skills that will also need improvement.
By focusing on these skills, you can improve and become a better person.
Mentoring or taking online and offline courses are also essential parts of beefing up your skills. Below are some of the secrets to learn to aid in strengthening your career skills for your success.
“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily”,
said by the popular televangelist Mike Murdock. Once you arrive at the
torturous decision of changing your career, do not waste more time
dwelling on the rationale behind this decision.
Get all your acts together and think of better ways of giving yourself a set of
career skills that can gear you up for a new life and a new career.
Beefing up your career skills is rather an essential step of achieving true
success. There are some secrets that will aid you in acquiring these skills.
Learning these secrets can be very beneficial indeed.
Once you have learned all these secrets, you are on your way to enjoying a
better career, a sense of stability and more money. All of the time, energy
and efforts in strengthening your career skills will be well worth the
investment.
By strengthening your career skills, you can become one of the potential
candidates that employers are looking for. Thus, it is important to pay attention to these secrets.
Randstad present the interviewer feedbacks about what they expect from a candidate to know in an interview and explain about the interview process, question and skills a candidate should be prepared before an interview. And also useful links for jobsearch.
You will never change your life until you change something you do daily”,
said by the popular televangelist Mike Murdock. Once you arrive at the
torturous decision of changing your career, do not waste more time
dwelling on the rationale behind this decision.
Get all your acts together and think of better ways of giving yourself a set of career skills that can gear you up for a new life and a new career.
Beefing up your career skills is rather an essential step of achieving true
success. There are some secrets that will aid you in acquiring these skills.
Learning these secrets can be very beneficial indeed.
BDPA Cincinnati brought three (3) experienced IT recruiters to the roundtable. They answered all of the questions you’ve always wanted to ask … but, were afraid to do. It was an outstanding opportunity for anyone, from college interns to entry-level IT professionals to experienced technicians, managers, or executives. The audience received the ‘inside scoop’ on what it takes to successfully land a job, promotion, or have a successful career in the IT industry.
Our panel included:
- Karen Cooper (owner, SmartIT)
- Karen Lipscomb (senior talent acquisition manager, L3-Communications)
- Linda Mullen (assistant VP, Fifth Third Bank)
Corporate America is rebounding from the Great Recession and unemployment continues to lag at levels that are much too high in the Black community and the Greater Cincinnati area. As such, we want to lift the curtain of secrecy about the recruitment process so that BDPA members and supporters have every advantage to advance their careers in the IT industry.
For those of you that missed our Preparation C presentation, take a look at it here, for some great tips on writing resumes, interviewing skills and what prospective employers are looking for.
 Assignment 1 Discussion Question Prosocial Behavior and Altrui.docxbudbarber38650

Assignment 1: Discussion Question: Prosocial Behavior and Altruism
By Saturday, July 11, 2015, respond to the discussion question. Submit your responses to the appropriate Discussion Area. Use the same Discussion Area to comment on your classmates' submissions by Saturday, July 11, 2015, and continue the discussion until Wednesday, July 15, 2015 of the week.
Consider and discuss how the phenomena of prosocial behavior and pure altruism relate to each other and how they differ from each other.
Pure altruism is a specific kind of prosocial behavior where your sole motivation is to help a person in need without seeking benefit for yourself. It is often viewed as a truly selfless form of behavior.
Provide an example each of prosocial behavior and pure altruism.

.
● what is name of the new unit and what topics will Professor Moss c.docxbudbarber38650
● what is name of the new unit and what topics will Professor Moss cover? How does this unit correlate to modern times?
● what problems were apparent in urban America?
● what were the three main streams of immigration up through the 1920s? What are "birds of passage?" How were Japanese and Korean immigrants different than Chinese immigrants? What is meant by "pale of settlement" and "pogrom."
● What is meant by "Americanization" and how did this process occur?
● What were the various forms of popular culture during this era, and why were they important?
● what forms of popular culture did working women enjoy? How did middle-class reformers react to these forms?
● what is meant by "the new woman" and "mothers to society?"
● How did middle-class men generally respond to the changing times? Why were people like Eugene Sandow and Harry Houdini so significant at this time?
● What were some of the examples of nativism at this time?
● What was the Social Gospel and what are settlement houses?
.
More Related Content
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For many of them, beginning a job search seems to be a challenging task. There are 3 simple questions you may ask yourself before beginning your search.
What do you really want to do?
What do you need to do?
How can you get started?
In Springboard Talent, we focus on helping professionals like you by providing coaching, strategies and systems to attract your ideal job. Traditional job search methods are no longer effective. Welcome to the New Rules of Job Search. With understanding of the entire hiring process, you will be able to tap into more than 80% of the hidden job market.
For many of them, beginning a job search seems to be a challenging task. There are 3 simple questions you may ask yourself before beginning your search.
What do you really want to do?
What do you need to do?
How can you get started?
In Springboard Talent, we focus on helping professionals like you by providing coaching, strategies and systems to attract your ideal job. Traditional job search methods are no longer effective. Welcome to the New Rules of Job Search. With understanding of the entire hiring process, you will be able to tap into more than 80% of the hidden job market.
“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily”, said by the popular televangelist Mike Murdock. Once you arrive at the torturous decision of changing your career, do not waste more time dwelling on the rationale behind this decision.
Get all your acts together and think of better ways of giving yourself a set of career skills that can gear you up for a new life and a new career.
Beefing up your career skills is rather an essential step of achieving true success. There are some secrets that will aid you in acquiring these skills.
Learning these secrets can be very beneficial indeed.
Once you have learned all these secrets, you are on your way to enjoying a better career, a sense of stability and more money. All of the time, energy and efforts in strengthening your career skills will be well worth the investment.
By strengthening your career skills, you can become one of the potential candidates that employers are looking for. Thus, it is important to pay attention to these secrets.
One of the first steps of acquiring a new set of career skills is arranging funds that allow you to attend a university or school. This is a big step to moving forward for you to obtain a new set of skills.
Taking it a step further than college is also important. You may want to check out some extracurricular activities such as clubs or maybe even participate in a volunteer event. These are just a couple of examples that can be very beneficial.
Although obtaining new career skills means spending money and time, the outcome will be most beneficial. Keep in mind, it will be a difficult task and will require longer hours.
There is also a plethora of courses that can help in getting your foot in the door to your career. You can gain specialization and expertise in a specific activity or field. Some institutions also offer courses that are highly effective in establishing a career. They are reliable in arming yourself with a set of career skills. It is important to look into many schools and check to see what each offers.
Through constant training and practice, you will be on your way to embarking on a new career. Beefing up your skills is proven to provide long-term benefits and offer you a stable job.
Learning and development are also needed in meeting the challenging demands of a career. There are some skills that will also need improvement.
By focusing on these skills, you can improve and become a better person.
Mentoring or taking online and offline courses are also essential parts of beefing up your skills. Below are some of the secrets to learn to aid in strengthening your career skills for your success.
“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily”,
said by the popular televangelist Mike Murdock. Once you arrive at the
torturous decision of changing your career, do not waste more time
dwelling on the rationale behind this decision.
Get all your acts together and think of better ways of giving yourself a set of
career skills that can gear you up for a new life and a new career.
Beefing up your career skills is rather an essential step of achieving true
success. There are some secrets that will aid you in acquiring these skills.
Learning these secrets can be very beneficial indeed.
Once you have learned all these secrets, you are on your way to enjoying a
better career, a sense of stability and more money. All of the time, energy
and efforts in strengthening your career skills will be well worth the
investment.
By strengthening your career skills, you can become one of the potential
candidates that employers are looking for. Thus, it is important to pay attention to these secrets.
Randstad present the interviewer feedbacks about what they expect from a candidate to know in an interview and explain about the interview process, question and skills a candidate should be prepared before an interview. And also useful links for jobsearch.
You will never change your life until you change something you do daily”,
said by the popular televangelist Mike Murdock. Once you arrive at the
torturous decision of changing your career, do not waste more time
dwelling on the rationale behind this decision.
Get all your acts together and think of better ways of giving yourself a set of career skills that can gear you up for a new life and a new career.
Beefing up your career skills is rather an essential step of achieving true
success. There are some secrets that will aid you in acquiring these skills.
Learning these secrets can be very beneficial indeed.
BDPA Cincinnati brought three (3) experienced IT recruiters to the roundtable. They answered all of the questions you’ve always wanted to ask … but, were afraid to do. It was an outstanding opportunity for anyone, from college interns to entry-level IT professionals to experienced technicians, managers, or executives. The audience received the ‘inside scoop’ on what it takes to successfully land a job, promotion, or have a successful career in the IT industry.
Our panel included:
- Karen Cooper (owner, SmartIT)
- Karen Lipscomb (senior talent acquisition manager, L3-Communications)
- Linda Mullen (assistant VP, Fifth Third Bank)
Corporate America is rebounding from the Great Recession and unemployment continues to lag at levels that are much too high in the Black community and the Greater Cincinnati area. As such, we want to lift the curtain of secrecy about the recruitment process so that BDPA members and supporters have every advantage to advance their careers in the IT industry.
For those of you that missed our Preparation C presentation, take a look at it here, for some great tips on writing resumes, interviewing skills and what prospective employers are looking for.
 Assignment 1 Discussion Question Prosocial Behavior and Altrui.docxbudbarber38650

Assignment 1: Discussion Question: Prosocial Behavior and Altruism
By Saturday, July 11, 2015, respond to the discussion question. Submit your responses to the appropriate Discussion Area. Use the same Discussion Area to comment on your classmates' submissions by Saturday, July 11, 2015, and continue the discussion until Wednesday, July 15, 2015 of the week.
Consider and discuss how the phenomena of prosocial behavior and pure altruism relate to each other and how they differ from each other.
Pure altruism is a specific kind of prosocial behavior where your sole motivation is to help a person in need without seeking benefit for yourself. It is often viewed as a truly selfless form of behavior.
Provide an example each of prosocial behavior and pure altruism.

.
● what is name of the new unit and what topics will Professor Moss c.docxbudbarber38650
● what is name of the new unit and what topics will Professor Moss cover? How does this unit correlate to modern times?
● what problems were apparent in urban America?
● what were the three main streams of immigration up through the 1920s? What are "birds of passage?" How were Japanese and Korean immigrants different than Chinese immigrants? What is meant by "pale of settlement" and "pogrom."
● What is meant by "Americanization" and how did this process occur?
● What were the various forms of popular culture during this era, and why were they important?
● what forms of popular culture did working women enjoy? How did middle-class reformers react to these forms?
● what is meant by "the new woman" and "mothers to society?"
● How did middle-class men generally respond to the changing times? Why were people like Eugene Sandow and Harry Houdini so significant at this time?
● What were some of the examples of nativism at this time?
● What was the Social Gospel and what are settlement houses?
.
…Multiple intelligences describe an individual’s strengths or capac.docxbudbarber38650
“…Multiple intelligences describe an individual’s strengths or capacities; learning styles describe an individual’s traits that relate to where and how one best learns” (Puckett, 2013, sec. 7.3).
This week you’ve read about the importance of getting to know your students in order to create relevant and engaging lesson plans that cater to multiple intelligences and are multimodal.
Assignment Instructions:
A. Using
SurveyMonkey
, create a survey that has:
At least five questions based on Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences
At least five additional questions on individual learning style inventory
A specific targeted student population grade level (elementary/ middle/ high school/adults)
Include the survey link for your peers
B. Post a minimum 150 word introduction to your survey, using at least one research-based article (cited in APA format) explaining how it will:
Evaluate students’ abilities in terms of learning styles/preferences
Assist in the creation of differentiated lesson plans.
.
• World Cultural Perspective Paper Final SubmissionResources.docxbudbarber38650
•
World Cultural Perspective Paper Final Submission
Resources
•
By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assignment criteria:
•
Competency 1:
Evaluate communication issues and trends of various cultures within the United States.
•
Utilize effective research methods using a variety of applicable sources.
•
Demonstrate an ability to connect suitably selected research information with course content.
•
Competency 2:
Develop cultural self-awareness and other-culture awareness.
•
Investigate the interactive effect that cultural tendencies, issues, and trends of various cultures have on communication.
•
Competency 4:
Analyze how nonverbal communication (body language) affects intercultural communication.
•
Explain how personal interactions are affected by the nonverbal characteristics and differences specific to the U.S. culture.
•
Competency 5:
Communicate effectively in a variety of formats and contexts.
•
Write coherently to support a central idea in appropriate format with correct grammar, usage, and mechanics.
Instructions
This paper is one piece of your course project. Complete the following:
•
Choose a world culture that is unfamiliar to you and is represented domestically in the United States.
•
Use research to collect a variety of resources about the culture. This includes interacting with members of the culture. In particular, focus your research on a small number of social issues surrounding the culture, along with cultural tendencies and trends, and the effect of these things on communication. Types of resources include interviews, media presentations, Web sites, text readings, scholarly articles, and other related materials.
•
In a paper of 500–1,000 words, address these things:
•
Investigate the effect that the tendencies, issues, and trends of the culture have on communication.
•
Explain how characteristics of nonverbal communication and other differences between your selected culture and U.S. culture affect personal interactions between members of the two cultures.
•
Connect the research you gathered to your ideas and explanations.
Refer to the World Cultural Perspective Paper Final Submission Scoring Guide as you develop this assignment.
Assignment Requirements
•
Written Communication:
Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
•
APA Formatting:
Resources and citations are formatted according to APA style and formatting.
•
Page Requirements:
500–1,000 words.
•
Font and Font Size:
Times New Roman or Arial, 12 point.
Develop your assignment as a Microsoft Word document. Submit your document as an attachment in the assignment area.
Note:
Your instructor may also use the Writing Feedback Tool to provide feedback on your writing.
In the tool, click on the linked resources for helpful writing information.
•
Intercultural Competence Reflection
Resources
Review the situation in the media.
• Write a story; explaining and analyzing how a ce.docxbudbarber38650
•
W
rite a story; explaining and analyzing
how a certain independent variable ( at the individual, group or organization levels) affects a dependent variable (behaviour or attitude),
•
You will freely select your story from “ life” : from college, home, neighborhood, a book , a video/ movie, TV…etc. as long as the story has two clear dependent and independent variables.
•
You will finish with a conclusion that lists both variables and explain their relationship (cause and effect).
•
Assignment words limits 200 words (minimum)
WITH REFRENCES ABOUT THE STORY/ SCENARIO SOURCE !
.
•Use the general topic suggestion to form the thesis statement.docxbudbarber38650
•Use the general topic suggestion to form the
thesis statement
which will be an opinion on the topic. The thesis must have
three
controlling ideas.
•Develop an essay
map or informal outline
•Develop each paragraph using a specific
topic sentence
related to the controls in your thesis; thus, announcing the subject matter of that paragraph.
•Use
transitional devices
throughout the essay and in each paragraph.
•Use any combination of modes to support your arguments.
• Have a well-developed introduction and conclusion.
•Use quotes from the text to support your arguments.
•You must have a title.
•Make a “Work Cited” page with the text as the only source.
Topic:
Reading helps students to develop skills that will make them into a more optimally rounded person. Choose any three skills learned in reading and discuss how each one can help students to be more academically inclined.
the text
“The 1960s: A Decade of Promise and Heartbreak”
By Kenneth T. Walsh
March 9, 2010
US News
It was a decade of extremes, of
transformational
change and
bizarre
contrasts: flower children and
assassins
,
idealism
and
alienation
, rebellion and
backlash
. For many in the
massive
post-World War II baby boom generation, it was both the best of times and the worst of times. (7 words)
There will be many 50-year anniversaries to mark significant events of the 1960s, and a big reason is that what happened in that remarkable era still
resonates
today. At the dawn of that decade of contrasts a half century ago—on Jan. 2 ,1960—a
charismatic
young senator from Massachusetts named John F. Kennedy announced that he was running for president, and he won the nation's highest office the following November. He remains one of the
iconic
figures in U.S. history. On February 1, four determined black men sat at a whites-only lunch counter at a Woolworth's in Greensboro, N.C., and were denied service. Their act of
defiance
triggered a wave of sit-ins for civil rights across the South and brought
unrelenting
national attention to America's original sin of racism. On March 3, Elvis Presley returned to the United States from his Army stint in Germany, resuming his career as a pioneer of rock-and-roll and an icon of the youth culture celebrating freedom and a growing sense of rebellion.(5 words)
By the end of the decade, Kennedy had been
assassinated
, along with his brother Robert and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. America's cities had become powder kegs as African-Americans, despite historic gains toward legal equality, became more impatient than ever at being second-class citizens. Women began demanding their rights in
unprecedented
numbers. Young people and their parents felt a widening generation gap as seen in their differing perceptions of
patriotism
, drug use, sexuality, and the work ethic. The now familiar culture wars between liberals and conservatives caused angry divisions over law and order, busing, racial preferences, abortion, the Vie.
•The topic is culture adaptation ( adoption )16 slides.docxbudbarber38650
•
The topic is
culture adaptation ( adoption )
16 slides
FIrst part
1- I have to interview 4 people ( Indians Chinese....)
(Experts professors students......)
-What kind or type of culture shock they experienced when they first came to Kuwait?
And whether they tolerated? how do they feel where they tolerated by Kuwaitis ?
- why culture tolerance of a foreign country is required in international marketing.
Based on what you learn those people, you will learn about feelings and their problems and difficulties when they first arrived in foreign countries. And knowing this, now you have to take this knowledge and apply to marketing and answer the questions whether it's difficult to adopt to foreign culture if it's difficult for people it's probably will be very difficult to also introduce those products and adopt those products to foreign culture. So that's why am asking you why culture tolerance in other nations are important and required to International marketing. you have to answer those
The second part of the presentation
You will identify or you will give domestic examples and foreign examples ( culture imperatives + culture electives + culture exclusive) examples of each category what is it about
The last question of the presentation
To Discuss the factor that determined successfully global adaptation
you have to
inculde a video
( 1 min max: 2 min)
Chapter 5 and you may find it in other chapters
This is the book for my course marketing you can get infomation from it :
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8pig2KdTaOBSkRzVjJvR1pLUkU/edit
.
•Choose 1 of the department work flow processes, and put together a .docxbudbarber38650
•Choose 1 of the department work flow processes, and put together a thorough 1-paragraph summary to explain to the team the importance of this process and how it works with the EHR. Choose 1 work flow process from the following choices: ◦Appointment scheduling
◦Front desk or check-in
◦Nursing or clinical support
◦Care provider
◦Check-out desk
◦Business office or billing
◦Clinical staff or care provider
•Discuss and describe 3 facility software applications that integrate with the EHR. Examples of software applications are electronic prescribing, speech recognition, master patient index, encoder, picture archiving and communication, personal health record (PHR), decision support, and more.
•Prepare a 3-paragraph summary of each application for the implementation team, and discuss any problems that may be encountered during EHR implementation.
•Describe the impact of 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages of the EHR so that the implementation team can start to prepare for this discussion with the administrators
650 words
.
‘The problem is not that people remember through photographs, but th.docxbudbarber38650
‘The problem is not that people remember through photographs, but that they remember only photographs. This remembering through photographs eclipses other forms of understanding, and remembering.
Harrowing photographs do not inevitably lose their power to shock. But they are not much help if the task is to understand. Narratives can make us understand. Photographs do something else: they haunt us
’ (Sontag, p. 79-80). Discuss the implications of Sontag’s claim for contemporary politics and humanitarian organisations.
* 3500 WORDS
*font 12
*Double Spaced
*8 resources at least
.
·
C
hoose an article
o
1000 words
o
Published in 5 years
o
Credible (e.g. Wall Street Journal, Asia Times, Fortune)
·
Write 3 single spaced analysis
o
Relate to Organizational Behavior
o
APA style
o
Name of theory; Definition of the theory; Location of link in the article
o
Explain and make analysis
.
·You have been engaged to prepare the 2015 federal income tax re.docxbudbarber38650
·
You have been engaged to prepare the 2015 federal income tax return for Bob and Melissa Grant.
·
Your tax form submission should include: Form 1040, Schedules A, B, D, E, and Forms 4684 and 8949 as applicable. You will come across many items on the tax return we have not talked about in class; if we have not covered it in class, and it is not included in the information below, you do
not
need to address it on this assignment.
·
Your solution should contain a detailed workpaper that calculates the tax due or refunded with the return and calculated in the form of the tax formula (see Ch. 4 lecture slides). The calculation should be well labeled and EASY to follow. This presentation will be factored into your grade. Do NOT include any references or citations on your workpaper.
·
You may complete the return by hand (
neatly
) or typed using 2015 forms found on Blackboard or the IRS website. You may complete the form using software, one version of which is available in the ACELAB.
o
Note – ACELAB software is for the 2014 tax year; if you choose to use this method, you do not need to override the automatically calculated 2014 information, but your workpaper must detail each line item that will differ between the 2014 form generated and the 2015 forms).
·
Use the following assumptions in preparing the return:
o
The general method of accounting used by the Grants is the cash method.
o
Use all opportunities under law to minimize the 2015 federal income tax.
o
Use whole dollars when preparing the tax return.
o
Do not prepare a state income tax return.
o
Ignore the Line 45 calculation for alternative minimum tax.
o
If required information is missing, use reasonable assumptions to fill in the gaps.
Client memo (5 points)
·
Complete a letter to the client regarding tax planning advice. Identify and explain two reasonable tax planning items the family could use to minimize their tax liability and/or maximize their wealth. All items would be implemented in future years and do not impact the current tax return.
BOB AND MELISSA GRANT
INDIVIDUAL FEDERAL INCOME TAX RETURN
Bob (age 43, SSN #987-45-1234) and Melissa Grant (age 43, SSN #494-37-4893) are married and live in Lexington, Kentucky. The Grants would like to file a joint tax return for the year. The Grants’ mailing address is 95 Hickory Road, Lexington, Kentucky 40502.
The Grants have two children Jared (SSN #412-32-5690), age 18, and Alese (SSN #412-32-6940), age 12. Jared is still in high school and works part time as a waiter and earns about $2,000 a year. The Grant’s also provide financial support to Bob’s aged (85 years) grandfather, Michael Sr., who is widowed and lives alone. Michael Sr.’s Social Security number is 982-21-5543. He has no income and the Grant’s provide 100 percent of his support.
Bob Grant’s Forms W-2 provided the following wages and withholding for the year:
Employer
Gross Wages
Federal Income Tax Withholding
State Income Tax Withholding
National Sto.
·Time Value of MoneyQuestion A·Discuss the significance .docxbudbarber38650
·
Time Value of Money
Question A
·
Discuss the significance of recognizing the time value of money in the long-term impact of the capital budgeting decision.
Question B
·
Discuss how the internal rate of return (IRR) method differs from the net present value (NPV) method. Be sure to include an explanation of what the IRR method is and what the NPV method is.
The initial post by day 5 should be a minimum of 150 words. If you use any source outside of your own thoughts, you should reference that source. Include solid grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and spelling.
.
·Reviewthe steps of the communication model on in Ch. 2 of Bus.docxbudbarber38650
·
Reviewthe steps of the communication model on in Ch. 2 of
Business Communication
. See Figure 2.1.
·
Identify one personal or business communication scenario.
Describe each step of that communication using your personal or business scenario. Use detailed paragraphs in the boxes provided
Steps of communication model
Personal or business scenario
1.
Sender has an idea.
2.
Sender encodes the idea in a message.
3.
Sender produces the message in a medium.
4.
Sender transmits message through a channel.
5.
Audience receives the message.
6.
Audience decodes the message.
7.
Audience responds to the message.
8.
Audience provides feedback to the sender.
Additional Insight
Identify
two potential barriers that could occur in your communication scenario and then explain how you would overcome them. Write your answer(s) below.
.
·Research Activity Sustainable supply chain can be viewed as.docxbudbarber38650
·
Research Activity
Sustainable supply chain can be viewed as Management of raw materials and services from suppliers to manufacturers/ service provider to customer - with improvement of the social and environmental impacts explicitly considered.
Carry out a literature review on sustainable / green supply chain and prepare:
·
A report (provide an example) -2500-3000 words approximately and
Issues/topics that
you may like
to address/consider are:
1.
Drivers for Sustainable SCM
2.
Analysing the impact of carbon emissions on manufacturing operation, cost and profit by focusing on product life cycle analysis.
Analyse aspects of the product life cycle in terms of; Outlining CO2 emission points and scope, defining CO2 baseline, prioritising measures to reduce or off set emissions and finally planning and initiating actions.
3.
New ways of thinking/information sharing
Seven key solution areas were identified:
·
In- store logistics: includes in-store visibility, shelf-ready products, shopper interaction
·
Collaborative physical logistics: shared transport, shared warehouse, shared infrastructure
·
Reverse logistics: product recycling, packaging recycling, returnable assets
·
Demand fluctuation management: joint planning, execution and monitoring
·
Identification and labelling: through the use of barcodes and RFID tags. Identification is about providing all partners in the value chain with the ability to use the same standardised mechanism to uniquely identify parties/locations, items and events with clear rules about where, how, when and by whom these will be created, used and maintained. Labels currently are the most widely used means to communicate about relevant sustainability and security aspects of a certain product towards consumers
·
Efficient assets: alternative forms of energy, efficient/aerodynamic vehicles, switching modes, green buildings
·
Joint scorecard and business plan: this solution consists of a suite of industry-relevant measurement tools falling into two broad categories: qualitative tools, which are a set of capability metrics designed to measure the extent to which the trading partners (supplier, service provider and retailer) are working collaboratively; and quantitative tools, which include business metrics aimed at measuring the impact of collaboration
4.
Sustainability in the carbon economy
5.
Introducing/developing sustainable KPI
s
to SC, SCOR,GSCF Models
Wal-Mart
may be a good example to look at: when you burn less, you pay less and emit less, and the benefits can ripple further. The big advantages for organisations in becoming sustainable are reducing costs and helping the environment. For example: Wal-Mart sells 25% of detergent sold in the United States, by replacing regular washing detergent with concentrate they will save: 400 million gallons of water, 125 million pounds of cardboard and packaging, 95 million pounds of plastic.
.
·DISCUSSION 1 – VARIOUS THEORIES – Discuss the following in 150-.docxbudbarber38650
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DISCUSSION 1 – VARIOUS THEORIES – Discuss the following in 150-200 words with in text citations and references:
·
Differentiate between the various dispositional, biological and evolutionary personality theories.
·
DISCUSSION 2 – STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS – Discuss the following in 150-200 words with in text citations and references:
·
Explain the strengths and limitations of dispositional, biological and evolutionary personality theories.
·
DISCUSSION 3 – ANALYZE PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS – Discuss the following in 150-200 words with in text citations and references:
·
Analyze individual personality characteristics using dispositional, biological and evolutionary personality theories.
·
DISCUSSION 4 – INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS – Discuss the following in 150-200 words with in text citations and references:
·
Explain interpersonal relations using dispositional and biological or evolutionary personality theories.
·
DISCUSSION 5 – ALLPORTS BELIEF – Discuss the following in 150-200 words with in text citations and references:
·
Do you agree or disagree with Allport's belief that individuals are motivated by present drives, not past events? Why?
.
·
Module 6 Essay Content
:
o
The Module/Week 6 essay requires you to discuss the history and contours of the “original intent” vs. “judicial activism” debate in American jurisprudence.
o
Part 1: Introduce and explain the key arguments supporting the “original intent” perspective and the argument for “judicial activism.”
o
Part 2: Weigh the merits of both sides and provide an assessment of both based upon research and analysis.
·
P
age Length:
At least three (3) pages in addition to the title page, abstract page, and bibliography page
·
Sources/Citations
: At least ten (10) sources, combining course material and outside material, are required. Key ideas from the required reading must be incorporated.
.
·Observe a group discussing a topic of interest such as a focus .docxbudbarber38650
·
Observe a group discussing a topic of interest such as a focus group, a community public assembly, a department meeting at your workplace, or local support group
·
Study how the group members interact and impact one another
·
Analyze how the group behaviors and communication patterns influence social facilitation
·
Integrate your findings with evidence-based literature from journal articles, textbook, and additional scholarly sources
Purpose:
To provide you with an opportunity to experience a group setting and analyze how the presence of others substantially influences the behaviors of its members through social facilitation.
Process:
You will participate as a guest at an interest group meeting in your community to gather data for a qualitative research paper. Once you have located an interest group, contact stakeholders and explain the purpose of your inquiry. After you receive permission to participate, you will schedule a date to attend the meeting; at which time you will observe the members and document the following for your analysis:
Part I
·
How were the people arranged in the physical environment (layout of room and seating arrangement)?
·
What is the composition of the group, in terms of number of people, ages, sex, ethnicity, etc.?
·
What are the group purpose, mission, and goals?
·
What is the duration of the group (short, long-term)? Explain.
·
Did the group structure its discussion around an agenda, program, rules of order, etc.?
·
Describe the structure of the group. How is the group organized?
·
Who are the primary facilitators of the group?
·
What subject or issues did the group members examine during the meeting?
·
What types of information did members exchange in their group?
·
What were the group's norms, roles, status hierarchy, or communication patterns?
·
What communication patterns illustrated if the group was unified or fragmented? Explain.
·
Did the members share a sense of identity with one another (characteristics of the group-similarities, interests, philosophy, etc.)?
·
Was there any indication that members might be vulnerable to Groupthink? Why or why not?
·
In your opinion, how did the collective group behaviors influence individual attitudes and the group's effectiveness? Provide your overall analysis.
Part II
Write a 1,200- to 1,500-word paper incorporating your analysis with evidence to substantiate your conclusion.
Explain how your observations relate to research studies on norm formation, group norms, conformity, and/or social influence.
Integrate your findings with literature from the textbook, peer-reviewed journal articles, and additional scholarly sources. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
.
·Identify any program constraints, such as financial resources, .docxbudbarber38650
·
Identify any program constraints, such as financial resources, human capital, and local culture.
·
Analyze the relationships between the policy developers and the policy implementers for the selected program.
Topic is Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. 380 words, APA format.
.
·Double-spaced·12-15 pages each chapterThe followi.docxbudbarber38650
·
Double-spaced
·
12-15 pages each chapter
The following is my layout for thesis:
CHAPTER 5
·
Brazil’s current outcomes in government, Financial, environmental, and community aspects.
1.
Variation in Government economic politics
2.
Yearly Financial growth
3.
Environmental risk factors
4.
Changes in community aspects
CHAPTER 6
·
Predictions of Market progression, Industrial variations, and government changes between 2007 to 2017
1.
Predictions for Industrial progression
a)
Financial variations and deviations
b)
Funding distribution for new technologies research and development
2.
Prediction for Brazil’s political outlook
a)
New economic laws and tax exemptions
b)
Changes in Political parties
3.
Predictions for deviations and variations in Brazil’s Market
a)
International growth
b)
Domestic growth
.
This slide is special for master students (MIBS & MIFB) in UUM. Also useful for readers who are interested in the topic of contemporary Islamic banking.
Thinking of getting a dog? Be aware that breeds like Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, and German Shepherds can be loyal and dangerous. Proper training and socialization are crucial to preventing aggressive behaviors. Ensure safety by understanding their needs and always supervising interactions. Stay safe, and enjoy your furry friends!
Safalta Digital marketing institute in Noida, provide complete applications that encompass a huge range of virtual advertising and marketing additives, which includes search engine optimization, virtual communication advertising, pay-per-click on marketing, content material advertising, internet analytics, and greater. These university courses are designed for students who possess a comprehensive understanding of virtual marketing strategies and attributes.Safalta Digital Marketing Institute in Noida is a first choice for young individuals or students who are looking to start their careers in the field of digital advertising. The institute gives specialized courses designed and certification.
for beginners, providing thorough training in areas such as SEO, digital communication marketing, and PPC training in Noida. After finishing the program, students receive the certifications recognised by top different universitie, setting a strong foundation for a successful career in digital marketing.
Normal Labour/ Stages of Labour/ Mechanism of LabourWasim Ak
Normal labor is also termed spontaneous labor, defined as the natural physiological process through which the fetus, placenta, and membranes are expelled from the uterus through the birth canal at term (37 to 42 weeks
MATATAG CURRICULUM: ASSESSING THE READINESS OF ELEM. PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS I...NelTorrente
In this research, it concludes that while the readiness of teachers in Caloocan City to implement the MATATAG Curriculum is generally positive, targeted efforts in professional development, resource distribution, support networks, and comprehensive preparation can address the existing gaps and ensure successful curriculum implementation.
Delivering Micro-Credentials in Technical and Vocational Education and TrainingAG2 Design
Explore how micro-credentials are transforming Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) with this comprehensive slide deck. Discover what micro-credentials are, their importance in TVET, the advantages they offer, and the insights from industry experts. Additionally, learn about the top software applications available for creating and managing micro-credentials. This presentation also includes valuable resources and a discussion on the future of these specialised certifications.
For more detailed information on delivering micro-credentials in TVET, visit this https://tvettrainer.com/delivering-micro-credentials-in-tvet/
Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty, In...Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty,
International FDP on Fundamentals of Research in Social Sciences
at Integral University, Lucknow, 06.06.2024
By Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
How to Build a Module in Odoo 17 Using the Scaffold MethodCeline George
Odoo provides an option for creating a module by using a single line command. By using this command the user can make a whole structure of a module. It is very easy for a beginner to make a module. There is no need to make each file manually. This slide will show how to create a module using the scaffold method.
Executive Directors Chat Leveraging AI for Diversity, Equity, and InclusionTechSoup
Let’s explore the intersection of technology and equity in the final session of our DEI series. Discover how AI tools, like ChatGPT, can be used to support and enhance your nonprofit's DEI initiatives. Participants will gain insights into practical AI applications and get tips for leveraging technology to advance their DEI goals.
A review of the growth of the Israel Genealogy Research Association Database Collection for the last 12 months. Our collection is now passed the 3 million mark and still growing. See which archives have contributed the most. See the different types of records we have, and which years have had records added. You can also see what we have for the future.
Unit 8 - Information and Communication Technology (Paper I).pdfThiyagu K
This slides describes the basic concepts of ICT, basics of Email, Emerging Technology and Digital Initiatives in Education. This presentations aligns with the UGC Paper I syllabus.
Introduction to AI for Nonprofits with Tapp NetworkTechSoup
Dive into the world of AI! Experts Jon Hill and Tareq Monaur will guide you through AI's role in enhancing nonprofit websites and basic marketing strategies, making it easy to understand and apply.
The simplified electron and muon model, Oscillating Spacetime: The Foundation...RitikBhardwaj56
Discover the Simplified Electron and Muon Model: A New Wave-Based Approach to Understanding Particles delves into a groundbreaking theory that presents electrons and muons as rotating soliton waves within oscillating spacetime. Geared towards students, researchers, and science buffs, this book breaks down complex ideas into simple explanations. It covers topics such as electron waves, temporal dynamics, and the implications of this model on particle physics. With clear illustrations and easy-to-follow explanations, readers will gain a new outlook on the universe's fundamental nature.
The simplified electron and muon model, Oscillating Spacetime: The Foundation...
GarrettCommunication Strategy Worksheet Stage One Planni.docx
1. Garrett
Communication Strategy Worksheet
Stage One: Planning a Message
Audience
Describe them.
Purpose
Why?
Focus
Narrow your possibilities.
Emotion
What emotion is the audience’s take away?
Format
Written: letter, email, memo, etc.? Verbal: face-to-face,
phone, etc.?
Approach
Direct or Indirect
Introduction
2. Purpose statement/preview statement/scope/attention getting
statement
Body
List the points you need to make, then group/rank them in
paragraph order.
Conclusion
Close it how.
Visuals
More than narration. Brain is 30% to visual processing.
I want the job. Thesis statement & set up points 1, 2, 3.
Topic sentence. Supporting evidence.
Topic sentence. Supporting evidence.
Topic sentence. Supporting evidence.
I request an interview. You may reach me at….
Basic Application Letter Construct
5 Paragraph Letter Format
While there are multiple ways to approach writing an
application letter, we focus on this construct and I expect your
work to be in the 5 paragraph construct.
3. You need an introduction that states you want the job. You
need a body that describes how you have the ‘things’ they
require and conclude with asking for an interview and offering
your contact information. The next three slides offer more
details on the sections.
1
Introduction –
State you’re apply for the job
If possible state some-kind-of connection to the organization
State a summary sentence (thesis)
Spark interest. Create curiosity.
Audience-centered attitude
Application Letter Construct
The introduction of an application letter is as important as all
other first impressions. Remember, they are feeling you as they
read, so create the experience through your words that you want
them to have.
In the intro,
Be direct (remember that means telling upfront what you want
– your purpose). State the job and your interest. Saying what
you want in an assertive manner demonstrates confidence.
If you have a connection with that organization, talk about that,
but be every-so-brief.
State a summary sentence – All communications need a thesis
statement. And in that thesis statement inform the reader
4. regarding specific focus – preview the 3 items you will detail in
the body.
Create curiosity. Build their interest in you in the way you
language.
Remember, once again, I tell you – be audience-centered. It’s
about your contribution, not you.
Oh, and, this paragraph is NOT to be the longest one on the
page. Typically it the second smallest with the conclusion
being the smallest.
2
Application Letter Construct
Body
Choose your points by studying the advertisement and selecting
the top three requirements. Write to how you have these three.
Be thinking:
How do I set myself apart?
The key to getting called for an interview is in the connection
you make in your letter. The winning strategy is to understand
your potential employer’s top 3 qualification requirements and
write to those items. Here’s how.
Study their advertisement. What requirement did they list first?
That is a powerful indicator of what they see as most important.
Second, look for the patterns…what did they say over and over
in differing way. Study the solicitation until you can pick the
organization’s top three requirements. These are the three item
5. points or body points you will write to in your application
letter. That is audience-centeredness.
I am here to tell you, know what they are looking for and
demonstrate how you can deliver this requirement. That is a
winning strategy. That is what will set you apart from the rest.
3
Conclusion
Ask for an interview. Give your contact information.
End on a positive, forward-looking note.
Application Letter Construct
The Conclusion
It’s simple - ask for the interview and give your contact
information. You want to make it easy for them to find you.
4
How to Write a Persuasive Application Letter
Business Communication, MGT309
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Writing that Works (2010). Oliu, Brusaw, & Alred
Welcome to the presentation on ‘How to write a persuasive
6. application letter.’ The purpose of an application letter is to get
the reader to read your resume. The purpose of the resume is to
get them to invite you to an interview.
Let’s talk about the dos and don’ts of an application letter –
also called a cover letter.
5
How to Write Accomplishment Statements
Your résumé is to highlight your accomplishments that relate to
your career objective. (Notice that an objective is the premise in
this strategy –it’s not optional.)
I. An accomplishment is something that you made happen that
demonstrates a benefit because of what you did (What did you
do and what was the outcome of your action?). Good
accomplishment statements use strong action verbs and have the
following characteristics:
· State what action you took to improve a situation
· Express how your action benefited the organization
· State the results of your action in numerical or percentage
terms
· Begin with an action verb
II. Action statements are powerful to show what you did on the
job and how your contributions were effective. Ask yourself the
following questions:
· What am I proud of?
· What problem did I solve and what was the result?
7. · Whom did I help to accomplish what?
· How did I make a difference in an organization?
· How did you help making someone else’s life easier or more
successful?
Examples:
· Coordinated fundraiser and raised $ 5,000 for Habitat for
Humanity
· Provided excellent customer service by assessing clients’
needs, suggesting appropriate services, and responding to
questions
· Initiated cost reduction plan in my division, resulting in 27%
($135,000) cost reduction with no negative impact on
production capability.
· Taught reading skills to 20 inner city kids resulting in all
students passing the basic skills exam.
· Supervised a team of six service employees. Led team to win
the annual team of the year award in our division.
· Initiated, organized, and successfully lead PTA.
· Scheduled travel arrangement for nine sales professional to
ensure efficient use of their time.
· Designed and authored a training manual for sales force.
· Fostered an engaging and challenging learning environment
for a diverse group of children to support their successful high
school graduation.
III. Complete the following template in order to help develop
powerful persuasive statements.
A. Describe a problem, situation, or opportunity you faced
B. The action you took (check action verb list)
C. The result/outcome of your action, quantify if possible
Then, summarize A, B, and C in one statement.
A
8. B
C
Into one Statement
MGT 309 Faculty: Bryan School of Business and Economics
What Decisions to Create a “Get the Job” Resume
Thirty to forty-five seconds that’s all the time you have to
impress your potential employer. When the resume-reader sits
down to review the application letters and resumes, the leader’s
first task is to sort the applicants into three interview choice
piles - yes, no, and maybe. And of course, we want our
resume to land in the ‘yes’ pile to get the call for the
interview. So, now let’s review your document-creation
decision-points, so that you get the leader’s attention.
Before we start talking about the resume, we need to first talk
about you. Do you know where you are going? You need to
choose your life’s direction. Where do you want to be in 1
year, in 5 years and in 20 years from now. When you know
where you’re going, you can create the steps to achievement.
9. It’s focused attention that yields success. So, your preparation
step is to study you - your strengths, your gifts and talents, your
likes and dislikes, your limitations.
After you know more about you, then you're ready to make your
resume document-creation decisions. Let's explore them now.
Decision One: What are the company values?
For instance, let’s say you value ‘customer wow’ - you just love
to go out of your way to impress the customer, and let’s say you
are researching a company and learn that they value timeliness.
It’s likely that you, at some point, will be in a dilemma
situation when these two values conflict - Do you spend lots of
time with a particular customer to impress them or not? If you
spend too much time with them, your employer will not be
happy with you. This is a base-line decision. In order to be
happy and in order for your employer to be happy, you and the
organization need to care about the same thing.
Decision Two: Who is the reader?
What are the person’s values? You must know who will read
your resume. Does this person think hierarchically or
collaboratively? Does this person prefer details or big-picture
thinking? Maybe this leader values details to a heightened
level. You need to know your reader in order to craft your
language to better connect that person. If you are unable to
learn information about the decision-maker, then write toward
the company values. Study the advertisement or job description
to know what they want. You decision is to understand your
audience and match your language to his/her perspective within
the bounds of honesty and integrity.
Decision Three: List an objective or don’t list an objective?
Employers can tell how much interest you have in the company
and the open position by the way you write your objective.
Here’s the hint - be sure you write a very short direct objective,
like Systems Analysis for ABC Corporation. Don’t write
something like ‘to obtain a position with a local company where
I can utilize my education and experience.’ That last statement
10. tells the reader that you do not know what you want. And if
you tell the prospective employer that you do not have clear
direction, you are sending your resume directly to the ‘no’ pile.
Leaders want confident employees.
Decision Five: What is the best language for the reader?
The words, the language, that you use will engage or repel the
reader. You need to make a number of decisions.
· How formal or not formal
· Just a few powerful words and concise elaboration
· Number of bullet points for the categories (The more bullet
points a category gets, the more important you are saying that
information is.)
· The way you word the bullet point as it links to your objective
Decision Six: What is the best organization for the reader?
Organization is key. Since the reader is only giving you
seconds of initial attention, you document needs to be easy to
read. And what makes the document easy to read is…it’s
organization and beauty on the page. Your resume needs to be
readable in a glance. Be sure to ask yourself what information
needs to be the power positions on the page. The power
positions are the top 2/10ths - 3/10th’s of the page and the last
position on the page. Be smart about what you locate in these
positions and how much weight you give that information. This
decision tells the leader what you deem valuable.
Decision Seven: How much personality do I show and how do I
do that?
Your employer is going to choose someone that positively
connects. All of us want be with people we like. So, in your
resume document, notice what sets you apart from others,
review your words thinking about you - what picture are your
painting about yourself.
The important question that the leader is answering is ‘Are you
a perfect fit?”
11. Harnessing the Science
of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
A LUCKY FEW HAVE IT; most of US do not. A handful
/ of gifted "naturals" simply know how to cap-
/ ture an audience, sway the undecided, and
convert the opposition. Watching these masters of
persuasion work their magic is at once impressive
and frustrating. What's impressive is not just the easy
way they use charisma and eloquence to convince
others to do as they ask. It's also how eager those
others are to do what's requested of them, as if the
persuasion itself were a favor they couldn't wait
to repay.
The frustrating part of the experience is that
these bom persuaders are often unahle to ac-
count for their remarkable skill or pass it on to
others. Their way with people is an art, and
artists as a rule are far hetter at doing than at
explaining. Most of them can't offer much
help to those of us who possess no more
than the ordinary quotient of charisma
and eloquence but who still have to wres-
tle with leadership's fundamental chal-
lenge: getting things done through oth-
ers. That challenge is painfully familiar
to corporate executives, who every day
have to figure out how to motivate
and direct a highly individualistic
workforce. Playing the "Because I'm
the boss" card is out. Even if it
weren't demeaning and demoraliz-
12. ing for all concerned, it would be
out of place in a world where
cross-functional teams, joint ven-
tures, and intercompany part-
nerships have blurred the lines
of authority. In such an en-
vironment, persuasion skills
exert far greater influence
over others' behavior than
formal power structures do.
72 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
Jo leader can succeed without mastering the art of persuasion.
But there's hard science in that skill, too, and a large body
3f psychological research suggests there are six basic laws of
rinning friends and influencing people.
OCTOBFR 2001
Harness i ng the Science o f Persuas ion
Which brings us back to where we started. Persuasion
skills may be more necessary than ever, but how can ex-
ecutives acquire them if the most talented practitioners
can't pass them along? By looking to science. For the past
five decades, behavioral scientists have conducted exper-
iments that shed considerable light on the way certain
interactions lead people to concede, comply, or change.
13. This research shows that persuasion works by appealing
to a limited set of deeply rooted human drives and needs,
and it does so in predictable ways. Persuasion, in other
words, is governed by basic principles that can be taught,
learned, and applied. By mastering these principles, exec-
utives can bring scientific rigor to the business of securing
consensus, cutting deals, and winning concessions. In the
pages that follow, 1 describe six fundamental principles of
persuasion and suggest a few ways that executives can
apply them in their own organizations.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
Liking:
People like those who like them.
THE APPLICATION:
Uncover real similarities and offer
genuine praise.
The retailing phenomenon known as the Tupperware
party is a vivid illustration of this principle in action.
The demonstration party for Tupperware products is
hosted by an individual, almost always a woman, who in-
vites to her home an array of friends, neighbors, and rel-
atives. The guests' affection for their hostess predisposes
them to buy from her, a dynamic that was confirmed by
a 1990 study of purchase decisions made at demonstra-
tion parties. The researchers, Jonathan Frenzen and
Harry Davis, writing in the Journal of Consumer Research,
found that the guests' fondness for their hostess weighed
twice as heavily in their purchase decisions as their re-
gard for the products they bought. So when guests at a
Tupperware party buy something, they aren't just buy-
ing to please themselves. They're buying to please their
14. hostess as well.
What's true at Tupperware parties is true for business
in general: If you want to influence people, win friends.
How? Controlled research has identified several factors
that reliably increase liking, but two stand out as espe-
Robert B. Cialdini is the Regents' Professor of Psychology
at Arizona State University and the author of Influence:
Science and Practice (Allyn & Bacon, 2001), now in its fourth
edition. Further regularly updated information about the in-
fluence process can be found at www.influenceatwork.com.
cially compelling-similarity and praise. Similarity liter-
ally draws people together. In one experiment, reported
in a 1968 article in the Journal of Personality, participants
stood physically closer to one another after learning that
they shared political beliefs and social values. And in a
1963 article in American Behavioral Scientists, researcher
F. B. Evans used demographic data from insurance com-
pany records to demonstrate that prospects were more
willing to purchase a policy from a salesperson who was
akin to them in age, religion, politics, or even cigarette-
smoking habits.
Managers can use similarities to create bonds with a re-
cent hire, the head of another department, or even a new
boss. Informal conversations during the workday create
an ideal opportunity to discover at least one common
area of enjoyment, be it a hobby, a college basketball
team, or reruns of Seinfeld. The important thing is to es-
tablish the bond early because it creates a presumption
of goodwill and trustworthiness in every subsequent
encounter. It's much easier to build support for a new
project when the people you're trying to persuade are al-
ready inclined in your favor.
15. Praise, tbe other reliable generator of affection, both
charms and disarms. Sometimes the praise doesn't even
have to be merited. Researchers at the University of
North Carolina writing in the Journal of Experimental So-
cial Psychology found that men felt the greatest regard for
an individual who flattered them unstintingly even if the
comments were untrue. And in their book Interpersonal
Attraction (Addison-Wesley, 1978), Ellen Berscheid and
Elaine Hatfieid Walster presented experimental data
showing that positive remarks about another person's
traits, attitude, or performance reliably generates liking in
retum, as well as willing compliance with the wishes of
the person offering the praise.
Along with cultivating a fruitful relationship, adroit
managers can also use praise to repair one that's damaged
or unproductive. Imagine you're the manager of a good-
sized unit within your organization. Your work frequently
brings you into contact with another manager-call him
Dan - whom you have come to dislike. No matter bow
much you do for him, it's not enough. Worse, he never
seems to believe that you're doing the best you can for
him. Resenting his attitude and his obvious lack of trust
in your abilities and in your good faith, you don't spend
as much time with him as you know you should; in con-
sequence, the performance of both his unit and yours is
deteriorating.
The research on praise points toward a strategy for fix-
ing the relationship. It may be hard to find, but there has
to be something about Dan you can sincerely admire,
whether it's his concern for the people in his department,
his devotion to his family, or simply his work ethic. In
your next encounter with him, make an appreciative
comment about that trait. Make it clear that in this case
16. 74 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
at least, you value what tie values. I predict that Dan will
relax his relentless negativity and give you an opening to
convince him of your competence and good intentions.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
Reciprocity:
People repay in kind.
THE APPLICATION:
Give what you want to receive.
Praise is likely to have a wanning and softening effect on
Dan because, ornery as he is, he is still human and subject
to the universal human tendency to treat people the way
they treat him. If you have ever caught yourself smiling at
a coworker just because he or she smiled first, you know
how this principle works.
Charities rely on reciprocity to help them raise funds.
For years, for instance, the Disabled American Veterans
organization, using only a well-crafted fund-raising letter,
garnered a very respectable 18% rate of response to its ap-
peals. But when the group started enclosing a small gift in
the envelope, the response rate nearly doubled to 35%.
The gift - personalized address labels - was extremely
modest, but it wasn't what prospective donors received
that made the difference. It was that they had gotten any-
17. thing at all.
What works in that letter works at the office, too. It's
more than an effusion of seasonal spirit, of course, that
impels suppliers to shower gifts on purchasing depart-
ments at holiday time. In 1996, purchasing managers ad-
mitted to an interviewer from Inc. magazine that after
having accepted a gift from a supplier, they were willing
to purchase products and services they would have oth-
erwise declined. Gifts also have a startling effect on re-
tention. I have encouraged readers of my book to send me
examples of the principles of influence at work in their
own lives. One reader, an employee of the State of Ore-
gon, sent a letter in which she oftered these reasons for
her commitment to her supervisor:
He gives me and my son gifts for Christmas and gives
me presents on my birthday. There is no promotion for
the type of job I have, and my only choice for one is to
move to another department. But I find myself resist-
ing trying to move. My boss is reaching retirement age,
and I am thinking 1 will be able to move out after he re-
tires....[F]or now, I feel obligated to stay since he has
been so nice to me.
Ultimately, though, gift giving is one of the cruder
applications of the rule of reciprocity. In its more sophis-
ticated uses, it confers a genuine first-mover advantage
on any manager who is trying to foster positive attitudes
and productive persona! relationships in the office:
Managers can elicit the desired behavior from cowork-
ers and employees by displaying it first Whether it's a
sense of trust, a spirit of ctwperation, or a pleasant de-
meanor, leaders should model the behavior they want to
see from others.
18. The same holds true for managers faced with issues of
information delivery and resource allocation. If you lend
a member of your staff to a colleague who is shorthanded
and staring at a fast-approaching deadline, you will sig-
nificantly increase your chances of gefting help when you
need it. Your odds wil! improve even more if you say,
when your colleague thanks you for the assistance, some-
thing like, "Sure, glad to help. I know how important it is
for me to count on your help when I need it."
THE PRINCIPLE OF I
Social Proof:
People follow the lead of similar others. ,
THE APPLICATION:
Use peer power whenever it's available.
Social creatures that they are, human beings rely heav-
ily on the people around them for cues on how to think,
feel, and act. We know this intuitively, but intuition has
also been confirmed by experiments, such as the one first
described in 1982 in the Journal of Applied Psychology. A
group of researchers went door-to-door in Columbia,
South Carolina, soliciting donations for a charity cam-
paign and displaying a list of neighborhood residents who
had already donated to the cause. The researchers found
that the longer the donor list was, the more likely those
solicited would be to donate as well.
To the people being solicited, the friends' and neigh-
bors' names on the list were a form of socia! evidence
about how they should respond. But the evidence would
not have been nearly as compelling had the names been
19. those of random strangers. In an experiment from the
1960s, first described in the Journal of Personality and 50-
ciat Psychology, residents of New York City were asked to
retum a lost wallet to its owner. They were highly likely
to aftempt to return the waUet when they !earned that an-
other New Yorker had previous!y aftempted to do so. But
!eaming that someone from a foreign country had tried
to retum the wallet didn't sway their decision one way or
the other.
The lesson for executives ftom these two experiments
is that persuasion can be extremely effective when it
comes from peers. The science supports what most sales
professionals already know: Testimonials from satis-
fied customers work best when the satisfied customer
OCTOBER 2001 75
Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
and the prospective customer share similar circum-
stances. That lesson can help a manager faced with the
task of selling a new corporate initiative. Imagine that
you're trying to streamline your department's work
processes. A group of veteran employees is resisting.
Rather than try to convince the employees of the move's
merits yourself, ask an old-timer who supports the initia-
tive to speak up for it at a team meeting. The compatriot's
testimony stands a much better chance of convincing the
group than yet another speech from the boss. Stated sim-
ply, influence is often best exerted horizontally rather
than vertically.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
20. Consistency:
People align with their clear commitments.
THE APPLICATION:
Make their commitments active,
public, and voluntary.
Liking is a powerful force, but the work of persuasion in-
volves more than simply making people feel warmly to-
ward you, your idea, or your product. People need not
only to like you but to feel committed to what you want
them to do. Good turns are one reliable way to make peo-
ple feel obligated to you. Another is to win a public com-
mitment from them.
My own research has demonstrated that most people,
once they take a stand or go on record in favor of a posi-
tion, prefer to stick to it. Other studies reinforce that find-
ing and go on to show how even a small, seemingly triv-
ial commitment can have a powerful effect on future
actions. Israeli researchers writing in 1983 in the Person-
ality and Social Psychology Bulletin recounted how they
asked half the residents of a large apartment complex to
sign a petition favoring the establishment of a recreation
center for the handicapped. The cause was good and the
request was small, so almost everyone who was asked
agreed to sign. Tvo weeks later, on National Collection
Day for the Handicapped, all residents of the complex
were approached at home and asked to give to the cause.
A little more than half of those who were not asked to
sign the petition made a contribution. But an astounding
92% of those who did sign donated money. The residents
of the apartment complex felt obligated to live up to their
commitments because those commitments were active,
21. public, and voluntary. These three features are worth con-
sidering separately.
There's strong empirical evidence to show that a choice
made actively - one that's spoken out loud or written
down or otherwise made explicit - is considerably more
likely to direct someone's future conduct than the same
choice left unspoken. Writing in 1996 in the Personality
and Social Psychology Bulletin, Delia Cioffi and Randy Gar-
ner described an experiment in which college students in
one group were asked to fill out a printed form saying
they wished to volunteer for an AIDS education project
in the public schools. Students in another group volun-
teered for the same project by leaving blank a form stat-
ing that they didn't want to participate. A few days later,
when the volunteers reported for duty, 74% of those who
showed up were students from the group that signaled
their commitment by filling out the form.
The implications are clear for a manager who wants to
persuade a subordinate to follow some particular course
of action: Get it in writing. Let's suppose you want your
employee to submit reports in a more timely fashion.
Once you believe you've won agreement, ask him to sum-
marize the decision in a memo and send it to you. By
doing so, you'll have greatly increased the odds that he'll
fulfill the commitment because, as a rule, people live up
to what they have written down.
Research into the social dimensions of commitment
suggests that written statements become even more pow-
erful when they're made public. In a classic experiment,
described in 1955 in the Journal of Abnormal and Social
Psychology, college students were asked to estimate the
length of lines projected on a screen. Some students were
22. asked to write down their choices on a piece of paper, sign
it, and hand the paper to the experimenter. Others wrote
their choices on an erasable slate, then erased the slate im-
mediately. Still others were instructed to keep their deci-
sions to themselves.
The experimenters then presented all three groups
with evidence that their initial choices may have been
wrong. Those who had merely kept their decisions in their
heads were the most likely to reconsider their original es-
timates. More loyal to their first guesses were the students
in the group that had written them down and immedi-
ately erased them. But by a wide margin, the ones most re-
luctant to shift from their original choices were those who
had signed and handed them to the researcher.
This experiment highlights how much most people
wish to appear consistent to others. Consider again the
matter of the employee who has been submitting late re-
ports. Recognizing the power of this desire, you should,
once you've successfully convinced him of the need to be
more timely, reinforce the commitment by making sure it
gets a public airing. One way to do that would be to send
the employee an e-mail that reads, "1 think your plan is
just what we need. I showed it to Diane in manufacturing
and Phil in shipping, and they thought it was right on tar-
get, too." Whatever way such commitments are formal-
ized, they should never be like the New Year's resolutions
people privately make and then abandon with no one the
wiser. They should be publicly made and visibly posted.
76 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
23. More than 300 years ago, Samuel Butler wrote a cou-
plet that explains succinctly why commitments must be
voluntary to be lasting and effective: "He that complies
against his will/Is of his own opinion still." If an undertak-
ing is forced, coerced, or imposed from the outside, it's not
a commitment; it's an unwelcome burden. Think how you
would react if your boss pressured you to donate to the
campaign of a political candidate. Would that make you
more apt to opt for that candidate in the privacy of a vot-
ing booth? Not likely. In fact, in their 1981 book Psycho-
logical Reactance (Academic Press), Sharon S. Brehm and
Jack W. Brehm present data that suggest you'd vote the
opposite way just to express your resentment of the boss's
coercion.
This kind of backlash can occur in the office, too. Let's
return again to that tardy employee. If you want to pro-
duce an enduring change in his behavior, you should
avoid using threats or pressure tactics to gain his compli-
ance. He'd likely view any change in his behavior as the
result of intimidation rather than a personal commitment
to change. A better approach would be to identify some-
thing that the employee genuinely values in the work-
place - high-quality workmanship, perhaps, or team
spirit-and then describe how timely reports are consis-
tent with those values. That gives the employee reasons
for improvement that he can own. And because he owns
them, they'll continue to guide his behavior even when
you're not watching.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
Authority:
People defer to experts.
24. THE APPLICATION:
Expose your expertise; don't assume
it's self-evident
Tvo thousand years ago, the Roman poet Virgil offered
this simple counsel to those seeking to choose correctly:
"Believe an expert." That may or may not be good advice,
but as a description of what people actually do, it can't be
beaten. For instance, when the news media present an ac-
knowledged expert's views on a topic, the effect on pub-
lic opinion is dramatic. A single expert-opinion news story
in the New York Times is associated with a 2% shift in pub-
lic opinion nationwide, according to a 1993 study de-
scribed in the Public Opinion Quarterly. And researchers
writing in the American Political Science Review in 1987
found that when the expert's view was aired on national
television, public opinion shifted as much as 4%. A cynic
might argue that these findings only illustrate the docile
submissiveness of the public. But a fairer explanation is
that, amid the teeming complexity of contemporary life,
a well-selected expert offers a valuable and efficient short-
cut to good decisions. Indeed, some questions, be they
legal, financial, medical, or technological, require so much
specialized knowledge to answer, we have no choice but
to rely on experts.
Since there's good reason to defer to experts, execu-
tives should take pains to ensure that they establish their
Surprisingly often, people mistakenly
assume that others recognize and
appreciate their experience.
25. own expertise before they attempt to exert influence. Sur-
prisingly often, people mistakenly assume that others rec-
ognize and appreciate their experience. That's what hap-
pened at a hospital where some colleagues and I were
consulting. The physical therapy staffers were frustrated
because so many of their stroke patients abandoned their
exercise routines as soon as they left the hospital. No mat-
ter how often the staff emphasized the importance of
regular home exercise-it is, in fact, crucial to the process
of regaining independent function - the message just
didn't sink in.
Interviews with some of the patients helped us pin-
point the problem. They were familiar with the back-
ground and training of their physicians, but the patients
knew little about the credentials of the physical therapists
wbo were urging them to exercise. It was a simple matter
to remedy that lack of information: We merely asked the
therapy director to display all the awards, diplomas, and
certifications of her staff on the walls of the therapy
rooms. The result was startling: Exercise compliance
jumped 34% and has never dropped since.
What we found immensely gratifying was not just how
much we increased compliance, but how. We didn't fool
or browbeat any of the patients. We informed them into
compliance. Nothing had to be invented; no time or re-
sources had to be spent in the process. The staff's exper-
tise was real -all we had to do was make it more visible.
The task for managers who want to establish their
claims to expertise is somewhat more difficult. They can't
simply nail their diplomas to the wall and wait for every-
one to notice. A little subtlety is called for. Outside the
United States, it is customary for people to spend time in-
26. teracting socially before getting down to business for the
first time. Frequently they gather for dinner the night be-
fore their meeting or negotiation. These get-togethers can
OCTOBER 2001 77
Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
Persuasion Experts, Safe at Last
Thanks to several decades of rigorous empirical
research by behavioral scientists, our understand-
ing of the how and why of persuasion has never
been broader, deeper, or more detailed. But these
scientists aren't the first students of the subject.
The history of persuasion studies is an ancient
and honorable one, and it has generated a long
rosterof heroes and martyrs.
A renowned student of social influence,
William McCui re, contends in a chapter of the
Handbook of Social Psychology, 3rd ed. (Oxford
University Press, 1985) that scattered among the
more than four millennia of recorded Western
history are four centuries in which the study of
persuasion flourished as a craft. The first was the
Periclean Age of ancient Athens, the second oc-
curred during the years of the Roman Republic,
the next appeared in the time of the European
Renaissance, and the last extended over the hun-
dred years that have just ended, which witnessed
the advent of large-scale advertising, mformation,
and mass media campaigns. Each of the three
previous centuries of systematic persuasion study
27. was marked by a flowering of human achieve-
ment that was suddenly cut short when political
authorities had the masters of persuasion killed.
The philosopher Socrates is probably the best
known of the persuasion experts to run afoul of
the powers that be.
Information about the persuasion process is a
threat because it creates a base of power entirely
separate from the one controlled by political au-
thorities. Faced with a rival source of influence,
rulers in previous centuries had few qualms
about eliminating those rare individuals who
truly understood how to marshal forces that
heads of state have never been able to monopo-
lize, such as cleverly crafted language, strategi-
cally placed information, and, most important,
psychological insight.
It would perhaps be expressing too much faith
in human nature to claim that persuasion experts
no longer face a threat from those who wield politi-
cal power. But because the truth about persuasion
is no longer the sole possession of a few brilliant,
inspired individuals, experts in the field can pre-
sumably breathe a littie easier Indeed, since most
people in power are interested in remaining in
power, they're likely to be more interested in ac-
quiring persuasion skills than abolishing them.
make discussions easier and help blunt disagreements-
remember the findings about liking and similarity - and
they can also provide an opportunity to establish exp)er-
tise. Perhaps it's a matter of telling an anecdote about
successfully solving a problem similar to the one that's on
the agenda at the next day's meeting. Or perhaps dinner
28. is the time to describe years spent mastering a complex
discipline-not in a boastful way but as part of the ordi-
nary give-and-take of conversation.
Granted, there's not always time for lengthy introduc-
tory sessions. But even in the course of the preliminary
conversation that precedes most meetings, there is almost
always an opportunity to touch lightly on your relevant
background and experience as a natural part of a sociable
exchange. This initial disclosure of personal information
gives you a chance to establish expertise early in the
game, so that when the discussion turns to the business at
hand, what you have to say will be accorded the respect it
deserves.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
Scarcity:
People want more ofwhat they can have less of.
THE APPLICATION:
Highlight unique benefits and
exclusive information.
Study after study shows that items and opportunities are
seen to be more valuable as they become less available.
That's a tremendously useful piece of information for
managers. They can harness the scarcity principle with
the organizational equivalents of limited-time, limited-
supply, and one-of-a-kind offers. Honestly informing a
coworker of a closing window of opportunity-the chance
to get the boss's ear before she leaves for an extended va-
cation, perhaps-can mobilize action dramatically.
Managers can learn from retailers how to frame their
29. offers not in terms of what people stand to gain but in
terms ofwhat they stand to lose if they don't act on the in-
formation. The power of "loss language" was demon-
strated in a 1988 study of California home owners written
up in the Journal of Applied Psychology. Half were told
that if they fully insulated their homes, they would save
a certain amount of money each day. The other half were
told that if they failed to insulate, they would lose that
amount each day. Significantly more people insulated
their homes when exposed to the loss language. The same
phenomenon occurs in business. According to a 1994
study in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human
Decision Processes, potential losses figure far more heavily
in managers' decision making than potential gains.
78 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
In framing their offers, executives should also remem-
ber that exclusive information is more persuasive than
widely available data. A doctoral student of mine, Amram
Knishinsky, wrote his 1982 dissertation on the purchase
decisions of wholesale beef buyers. He observed that they
more than doubled their orders when they were told that,
because of certain weather conditions overseas, there was
likely to be a scarcity of foreign beef in the near future.
But their orders increased 600% when they were in-
formed that no one else had that information yet.
The persuasive power of exclusivity can be harnessed
by any manager who comes into possession of informa-
tion that's not broadly available and that supports an idea
or initiative he or she would like the organization to
30. adopt. The next time that kind of information crosses
your desk, round up your organization's key players. The
information itself may seem dull, but exclusivity will give
it a special sheen. Push it across your desk and say, "I just
got this report today. It won't be distributed until next
week, but I want to give you an early look at what it
shows." Then watch your listeners lean forward.
Allow me to stress here a point that should be obvious.
No offer of exclusive information, no exhortation to act
now or miss this opportunity forever should be made un-
less it is genuine. Deceiving colleagues into compliance is
not only ethically objectionable, it's foolhardy. If the de-
ception is detected-and it certainly will be- i t will snuff
out any enthusiasm the offer originally kindled. It will
also invite dishonesty toward the deceiver. Remember the
rule of reciprocity.
Putting It All Together
There's nothing abstruse or obscure about these six prin-
ciples of persuasion. Indeed, they neatly codify our intu-
itive understanding of the ways people evaluate informa-
tion and form decisions. As a result, the principles are
easy for most people to grasp, even those with no formal
education in psychology. But in the seminars and work-
shops I conduct, I have learned that two points bear re-
peated emphasis.
First, although the six principles and their applications
can be discussed separately for the sake of clarity, they
should be applied in combination to compound their im-
pact. For instance, in discussing the importance of ex-
pertise, I suggested that managers use informal, social
conversations to establish their credentials. But that con-
versation affords an opportunity to gain information as
well as convey it. While you're showing your dinner com-
31. panion that you have the skills and experience your busi-
ness problem demands, you can also learn about your
companion's background, likes, and dislikes - informa-
tion that will help you locate genuine similarities and
give sincere compliments. By letting your expertise sur-
face and also establishing rapport, you double your per-
suasive power. And if you succeed in bringing your din-
ner partner on board, you may encourage other peopie
to sign on as well, thanks to the persuasive power of so-
cial evidence.
The other point I wish to emphasize is that the rules
of ethics apply to the science of social influence just as
they do to any other technology. Not only is it ethically
wrong to trick or trap others into assent, it's ill-advised in
practical terms. Dishonest or high-pressure tactics work
only in the short run, if at all. Their long-term effects are
malignant, especially within an organization, which can't
function properly without a bedrock level of trust and
cooperation.
That point is made vividly in the following account,
which a department head for a large textile manufacturer
related at a training workshop I conducted. She described
a vice president in her company who wrung public com-
mitments from department heads in a highly manipu-
lative manner. Instead of giving his subordinates time
to talk or think through his proposals carefully, he would
approach them individually at the busiest moment of
their workday and describe the benefits of his plan in
exhaustive, patience-straining detail. Then he would
move in for the kill. "It's very important for me to see
you as being on my team on this," he would say. "Can I
count on your support?" Intimidated, frazzled, eager to
chase the man from their offices so they could get back
32. to work, the department heads would invariably go along
with his request. But because the commitments never
felt voluntary, the department heads never followed
through, and as a result the vice president's initiatives all
blew up or petered out.
Tliis story had a deep impact on the other participants
in the workshop. Some gulped in shock as they recog-
nized their own manipulative behavior. But what stopped
everyone cold was the expression on the department
head's face as she recounted the damaging collapse of her
superior's proposals. She was smiling.
Nothing I could say would more effectively make the
point that the deceptive or coercive use of the principles
of social infiuence is ethically wrong and pragmatically
wrongheaded. Yet the same principles, if applied appro-
priately, can steer decisions correctly. Legitimate exper-
tise, genuine obligations, authentic similarities, real so-
cial proof, exclusive news, and freely made commitments
can produce choices that are likely to benefit both parties.
And any approach that works to everyone's mutual ben-
efit is good business, don't you think? Of course, I don't
want to press you into it, but, if you agree, 1 would love it
if you could just jot me a memo to that effect. ^
Reprint R0109D
To order reprints, see the last page of Executive Summaries.
To further explore the topic of this article, go to
www.hbr.org/explore.
OCTOBER 2001 79
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First Last
2303 Address
Greensboro, NC 27407
June 7, 2012
Doug Anderson
WebpageFX
34. 453 Lincoln Street, First Floor
Carlisle, PA 17013
Dear Mr. Anderson,
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Because I am working in UNCG Chinese Student & Scholar
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6/15/2012 Comment by laptop: Write out
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Member Service Specialist
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candidate for the position. Comment by laptop: Don’t intro
self Comment by laptop: Sounds too ego driven Comment by
laptop: Where is your preview statement?
Throughout my life I have persevered by always aiming for
36. perfection. Throughout my years in school, I maintained an A
average and never allowed myself to become distracted. As a
Truliant employee I will never take my eyes of the prize and
will always serve my company and our member-owners with the
highest quality of service Truliant is known for.As a loyal
member of Truliant, I grew up dreaming of one day working for
the company I've always admired and I'm hoping that this is my
chance. Comment by laptop: Do not exaggerate or use 100%
words – they actually can cause doubt. Comment by laptop:
This is not about Truliant
For the last four years I've worked with the biggest names in
both retail and wholesale and I definetly know how to satisfy
customers. As an employee of both Wal-Mart and Costco, I've
learned that there is nothing more important that customer
satisfaction. As an employee of Truliant FCU, I will make sure
that our members are well taken care of and I will continue to
provide the exceptional level of service that has come to be
expected from me. Comment by laptop: Again another claim,
not a story of how. Comment by laptop: By doing what?
My legendary customer service techniques aren't my only skills.
As a master of data basing technology as well as all Microsoft
Office programs, I'll be ready to hit the ground running on day
one. I have also spent most of my life studying the financial
sector and will be ready to serve Truliant's member-owners with
grace and competence.
I would like to thank you for taking the time to review my
application and hope that you will find me to be the most
suitable candidate for the job. I would love to be invited for an
interview so I can answer any and all questions you may have in
entirety. Comment by laptop: Where are your contact
information? How should the potential employer reach you?
37. Sincerely,
First Last
[email protected] Comment by laptop: This letter is an
example of student not having read the suggestions or the
guidelines correctly.
How to Write Accomplishment Statements
Your résumé is to highlight your accomplishments that relate to
your career objective. (Notice that an objective is the premise in
this strategy –it’s not optional.)
I. An accomplishment is something that you made happen that
demonstrates a benefit because of what you did (What did you
do and what was the outcome of your action?). Good
accomplishment statements use strong action verbs and have the
following characteristics:
· State what action you took to improve a situation
· Express how your action benefited the organization
· State the results of your action in numerical or percentage
terms
· Begin with an action verb
II. Action statements are powerful to show what you did on the
job and how your contributions were effective. Ask yourself the
following questions:
· What am I proud of?
· What problem did I solve and what was the result?
· Whom did I help to accomplish what?
· How did I make a difference in an organization?
38. · How did you help making someone else’s life easier or more
successful?
Examples:
· Coordinated fundraiser and raised $ 5,000 for Habitat for
Humanity
· Provided excellent customer service by assessing clients’
needs, suggesting appropriate services, and responding to
questions
· Initiated cost reduction plan in my division, resulting in 27%
($135,000) cost reduction with no negative impact on
production capability.
· Taught reading skills to 20 inner city kids resulting in all
students passing the basic skills exam.
· Supervised a team of six service employees. Led team to win
the annual team of the year award in our division.
· Initiated, organized, and successfully lead PTA.
· Scheduled travel arrangement for nine sales professional to
ensure efficient use of their time.
· Designed and authored a training manual for sales force.
· Fostered an engaging and challenging learning environment
for a diverse group of children to support their successful high
school graduation.
III. Complete the following template in order to help develop
powerful persuasive statements.
A. Describe a problem, situation, or opportunity you faced
B. The action you took (check action verb list)
C. The result/outcome of your action, quantify if possible
Then, summarize A, B, and C in one statement.
A
39. B
C
Into one Statement
Writing: Persuasive Application (Cover) Letter
Study the job advertisement and notice the top three ‘things’ the
employer wants. Simply, write your response to how you have
these three (given that you do.)
_____________________________________________________
__________________________
Your Name
Your Street Address
Your City, State & Zip
Date
Contact’s Name
Contact’s Job Title
Contact’s Company Name
Contact’s Street Address, Suite #
40. Company City, State, Zip
Dear Mr./Ms. Contact,
The first paragraph connects to purpose – tell the reader why
you’re contacting him/her and how you came to know of the
position. This statement is to be quick & simple and catchy. A
last line is to give a brief synopsis of who you are and why you
want the position framed towards the audience – not you, maybe
name 3 body point items.
Second Paragraph: Item one – topic sentence – use the same
word that you spoke as the intention (that’s being in
integrity)/body point items. And a couple of sentences that tell
the story of evidence. Use Emotional Word Pictures for
persuasion.
Third Paragraph: Item one – topic sentence – use the same word
that you spoke as the intention (that’s being in integrity) body
point items. And a couple of sentences that tell the story of
evidence. Use Emotional Word Pictures for persuasion.
Fourth Paragraph: Item one - topic sentence – use the same
word that you spoke as the intention (that’s being in integrity)/
body point items. And a couple of sentences that tell the story
of evidence. Use Emotional Word Pictures for persuasion.
The final paragraph (of usually two sentences) is a cordial exit,
a request for an interview, and your contact information. (Write
nearly a full-page.)
Sincerely,
Confident Writer
[email protected]
41. encl: ?
Writing: Persuasive Application (Cover) Letter
Study the job advertisement and notice the top three ‘things’ the
employer wants. Simply, write your response to how you have
these three (given that you do.)
_____________________________________________________
__________________________
Your Name
Your Street Address
Your City, State & Zip
Date
Contact’s Name
Contact’s Job Title
Contact’s Company Name
Contact’s Street Address, Suite #
Company City, State, Zip
Dear Mr./Ms. Contact,
The first paragraph connects to purpose – tell the reader why
you’re contacting him/her and how you came to know of the
position. This statement is to be quick & simple and catchy. A
last line is to give a brief synopsis of who you are and why you
want the position framed towards the audience – not you, maybe
name 3 body point items.
Item one – topic sentence – use the same word that you spoke as
the intention (that’s being in integrity). And a couple of
sentences that tell the story of evidence. Use Emotional Word
Pictures for persuasion.
Item one – topic sentence – use the same word that you spoke as
the intention (that’s being in integrity). And a couple of
sentences that tell the story of evidence. Use Emotional Word
Pictures for persuasion.
Item one – topic sentence – use the same word that you spoke as
42. the intention (that’s being in integrity). And a couple of
sentences that tell the story of evidence. Use Emotional Word
Pictures for persuasion.
The final paragraph (of usually two sentences) is a cordial exit,
a request for an interview, and your contact information. (Write
nearly a full-page.)
Sincerely,
Confident Writer
[email protected]
MGT 309 Faculty: Bryan School of Business and Economics
What Decisions to Create a “Get the Job” Resume
Thirty to forty-five seconds that’s all the time you have to
impress your potential employer. When the resume-reader sits
down to review the application letters and resumes, the leader’s
first task is to sort the applicants into three interview choice
piles - yes, no, and maybe. And of course, we want our
resume to land in the ‘yes’ pile to get the call for the
interview. So, now let’s review your document-creation
decision-points, so that you get the leader’s attention.
Before we start talking about the resume, we need to first talk
about you. Do you know where you are going? You need to
choose your life’s direction. Where do you want to be in 1
year, in 5 years and in 20 years from now. When you know
where you’re going, you can create the steps to achievement.
It’s focused attention that yields success. So, your preparation
step is to study you - your strengths, your gifts and talents, your
likes and dislikes, your limitations.
After you know more about you, then you're ready to make your
resume document-creation decisions. Let's explore them now.
Decision One: What are the company values?
For instance, let’s say you value ‘customer wow’ - you just love
to go out of your way to impress the customer, and let’s say you
43. are researching a company and learn that they value timeliness.
It’s likely that you, at some point, will be in a dilemma
situation when these two values conflict - Do you spend lots of
time with a particular customer to impress them or not? If you
spend too much time with them, your employer will not be
happy with you. This is a base-line decision. In order to be
happy and in order for your employer to be happy, you and the
organization need to care about the same thing.
Decision Two: Who is the reader?
What are the person’s values? You must know who will read
your resume. Does this person think hierarchically or
collaboratively? Does this person prefer details or big-picture
thinking? Maybe this leader values details to a heightened
level. You need to know your reader in order to craft your
language to better connect that person. If you are unable to
learn information about the decision-maker, then write toward
the company values. Study the advertisement or job description
to know what they want. You decision is to understand your
audience and match your language to his/her perspective within
the bounds of honesty and integrity.
Decision Three: List an objective or don’t list an objective?
Employers can tell how much interest you have in the company
and the open position by the way you write your objective.
Here’s the hint - be sure you write a very short direct objective,
like Systems Analysis for ABC Corporation. Don’t write
something like ‘to obtain a position with a local company where
I can utilize my education and experience.’ That last statement
tells the reader that you do not know what you want. And if
you tell the prospective employer that you do not have clear
direction, you are sending your resume directly to the ‘no’ pile.
Leaders want confident employees.
Decision Five: What is the best language for the reader?
The words, the language, that you use will engage or repel the
reader. You need to make a number of decisions.
· How formal or not formal
· Just a few powerful words and concise elaboration
44. · Number of bullet points for the categories (The more bullet
points a category gets, the more important you are saying that
information is.)
· The way you word the bullet point as it links to your objective
Decision Six: What is the best organization for the reader?
Organization is key. Since the reader is only giving you
seconds of initial attention, you document needs to be easy to
read. And what makes the document easy to read is…it’s
organization and beauty on the page. Your resume needs to be
readable in a glance. Be sure to ask yourself what information
needs to be the power positions on the page. The power
positions are the top 2/10ths - 3/10th’s of the page and the last
position on the page. Be smart about what you locate in these
positions and how much weight you give that information. This
decision tells the leader what you deem valuable.
Decision Seven: How much personality do I show and how do I
do that?
Your employer is going to choose someone that positively
connects. All of us want be with people we like. So, in your
resume document, notice what sets you apart from others,
review your words thinking about you - what picture are your
painting about yourself.
The important question that the leader is answering is ‘Are you
a perfect fit?”
Harnessing the Science
of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
A LUCKY FEW HAVE IT; most of US d o not. A handful
/ of gifted "naturals" simply know how to cap-
/ ture an audience, sway the undecided, and
45. convert the opposition. Watching these masters of
persuasion work their magic is at once impressive
and frustrating. What's impressive is not just the easy
way they use charisma and eloquence to convince
others to do as they ask. It's also how eager those
others are to do what's requested of them, as if the
persuasion itself were a favor they couldn't wait
to repay.
The frustrating part of the experience is that
these bom persuaders are often unahle to ac-
count for their remarkable skill or pass it on to
others. Their way with people is an art, and
artists as a rule are far hetter at doing than at
explaining. Most of them can't offer much
help to those of us who possess no more
than the ordinary quotient of charisma
and eloquence but who still have to wres-
tle with leadership's fundamental chal-
lenge: getting things done through oth-
ers. That challenge is painfully familiar
to corporate executives, who every day
have to figure out how to motivate
and direct a highly individualistic
workforce. Playing the "Because I'm
the boss" card is out. Even if it
weren't demeaning and demoraliz-
ing for all concerned, it would be
out of place in a world where
cross-functional teams, joint ven-
tures, and intercompany part-
nerships have blurred the lines
of authority. In such an en-
vironment, persuasion skills
exert far greater influence
over others' behavior than
46. formal power structures do.
72 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
Jo leader can succeed without mastering the art of persuasion.
But there's hard science in that skill, too, and a large body
3f psychological research suggests there are six basic laws of
rinning friends and influencing people.
OCTOBFR 2001
H a r n e s s i n g t h e S c i e n c e o f P e r s u a s i o n
Which brings us back to where we started. Persuasion
skills may be more necessary than ever, but how can ex-
ecutives acquire them if the most talented practitioners
can't pass them along? By looking to science. For the past
five decades, behavioral scientists have conducted exper-
iments that shed considerable light on the way certain
interactions lead people to concede, comply, or change.
This research shows that persuasion works by appealing
to a limited set of deeply rooted human drives and needs,
and it does so in predictable ways. Persuasion, in other
words, is governed by basic principles that can be taught,
learned, and applied. By mastering these principles, exec-
utives can bring scientific rigor to the business of securing
consensus, cutting deals, and winning concessions. In the
pages that follow, 1 describe six fundamental principles of
persuasion and suggest a few ways that executives can
47. apply them in their own organizations.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
Liking:
People like those who like them.
THE APPLICATION:
Uncover real similarities and offer
genuine praise.
The retailing phenomenon known as the Tupperware
party is a vivid illustration of this principle in action.
The demonstration party for Tupperware products is
hosted by an individual, almost always a woman, who in-
vites to her home an array of friends, neighbors, and rel-
atives. The guests' affection for their hostess predisposes
them to buy from her, a dynamic that was confirmed by
a 1990 study of purchase decisions made at demonstra-
tion parties. The researchers, Jonathan Frenzen and
Harry Davis, writing in the Journal of Consumer Research,
found that the guests' fondness for their hostess weighed
twice as heavily in their purchase decisions as their re-
gard for the products they bought. So when guests at a
Tupperware party buy something, they aren't just buy-
ing to please themselves. They're buying to please their
hostess as well.
What's true at Tupperware parties is true for business
in general: If you want to influence people, win friends.
How? Controlled research has identified several factors
that reliably increase liking, but two stand out as espe-
Robert B. Cialdini is the Regents' Professor of Psychology
at Arizona State University and the author of Influence:
48. Science and Practice (Allyn & Bacon, 2001), now in its fourth
edition. Further regularly updated information about the in-
fluence process can be found at www.influenceatwork.com.
cially compelling-similarity and praise. Similarity liter-
ally draws people together. In one experiment, reported
in a 1968 article in the Journal of Personality, participants
stood physically closer to one another after learning that
they shared political beliefs and social values. And in a
1963 article in American Behavioral Scientists, researcher
F. B. Evans used demographic data from insurance com-
pany records to demonstrate that prospects were more
willing to purchase a policy from a salesperson who was
akin to them in age, religion, politics, or even cigarette-
smoking habits.
Managers can use similarities to create bonds with a re-
cent hire, the head of another department, or even a new
boss. Informal conversations during the workday create
an ideal opportunity to discover at least one common
area of enjoyment, be it a hobby, a college basketball
team, or reruns of Seinfeld. The important thing is to es-
tablish the bond early because it creates a presumption
of goodwill and trustworthiness in every subsequent
encounter. It's much easier to build support for a new
project when the people you're trying to persuade are al-
ready inclined in your favor.
Praise, tbe other reliable generator of affection, both
charms and disarms. Sometimes the praise doesn't even
have to be merited. Researchers at the University of
North Carolina writing in the Journal of Experimental So-
cial Psychology found that men felt the greatest regard for
an individual who flattered them unstintingly even if the
comments were untrue. And in their book Interpersonal
Attraction (Addison-Wesley, 1978), Ellen Berscheid and
49. Elaine Hatfieid Walster presented experimental data
showing that positive remarks about another person's
traits, attitude, or performance reliably generates liking in
retum, as well as willing compliance with the wishes of
the person offering the praise.
Along with cultivating a fruitful relationship, adroit
managers can also use praise to repair one that's damaged
or unproductive. Imagine you're the manager of a good-
sized unit within your organization. Your work frequently
brings you into contact with another manager-call him
Dan - whom you have come to dislike. No matter bow
much you do for him, it's not enough. Worse, he never
seems to believe that you're doing the best you can for
him. Resenting his attitude and his obvious lack of trust
in your abilities and in your good faith, you don't spend
as much time with him as you know you should; in con-
sequence, the performance of both his unit and yours is
deteriorating.
The research on praise points toward a strategy for fix-
ing the relationship. It may be hard to find, but there has
to be something about Dan you can sincerely admire,
whether it's his concern for the people in his department,
his devotion to his family, or simply his work ethic. In
your next encounter with him, make an appreciative
comment about that trait. Make it clear that in this case
74 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
at least, you value what tie values. I predict that Dan will
relax his relentless negativity and give you an opening to
50. convince him of your competence and good intentions.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
Reciprocity:
People repay in kind.
THE APPLICATION:
Give what you want to receive.
Praise is likely to have a wanning and softening effect on
Dan because, ornery as he is, he is still human and subject
to the universal human tendency to treat people the way
they treat him. If you have ever caught yourself smiling at
a coworker just because he or she smiled first, you know
how this principle works.
Charities rely on reciprocity to help them raise funds.
For years, for instance, the Disabled American Veterans
organization, using only a well-crafted fund-raising letter,
garnered a very respectable 18% rate of response to its ap-
peals. But when the group started enclosing a small gift in
the envelope, the response rate nearly doubled to 35%.
The gift - personalized address labels - was extremely
modest, but it wasn't what prospective donors received
that made the difference. It was that they had gotten any-
thing at all.
What works in that letter works at the office, too. It's
more than an effusion of seasonal spirit, of course, that
impels suppliers to shower gifts on purchasing depart-
ments at holiday time. In 1996, purchasing managers ad-
mitted to an interviewer from Inc. magazine that after
having accepted a gift from a supplier, they were willing
to purchase products and services they would have oth-
51. erwise declined. Gifts also have a startling effect on re-
tention. I have encouraged readers of my book to send me
examples of the principles of influence at work in their
own lives. One reader, an employee of the State of Ore-
gon, sent a letter in which she oftered these reasons for
her commitment to her supervisor:
He gives me and my son gifts for Christmas and gives
me presents on my birthday. There is no promotion for
the type of job I have, and my only choice for one is to
move to another department. But I find myself resist-
ing trying to move. My boss is reaching retirement age,
and I am thinking 1 will be able to move out after he re-
tires....[F]or now, I feel obligated to stay since he has
been so nice to me.
Ultimately, though, gift giving is one of the cruder
applications of the rule of reciprocity. In its more sophis-
ticated uses, it confers a genuine first-mover advantage
on any manager who is trying to foster positive attitudes
and productive persona! relationships in the office:
Managers can elicit the desired behavior from cowork-
ers and employees by displaying it first Whether it's a
sense of trust, a spirit of ctwperation, or a pleasant de-
meanor, leaders should model the behavior they want to
see from others.
The same holds true for managers faced with issues of
information delivery and resource allocation. If you lend
a member of your staff to a colleague who is shorthanded
and staring at a fast-approaching deadline, you will sig-
nificantly increase your chances of gefting help when you
need it. Your odds wil! improve even more if you say,
when your colleague thanks you for the assistance, some-
thing like, "Sure, glad to help. I know how important it is
52. for me to count on your help when I need it."
THE PRINCIPLE OF I
Social Proof:
People follow the lead of similar others. ,
THE APPLICATION:
Use peer power whenever it's available.
Social creatures that they are, human beings rely heav-
ily on the people around them for cues on how to think,
feel, and act. We know this intuitively, but intuition has
also been confirmed by experiments, such as the one first
described in 1982 in the Journal of Applied Psychology. A
group of researchers went door-to-door in Columbia,
South Carolina, soliciting donations for a charity cam-
paign and displaying a list of neighborhood residents who
had already donated to the cause. The researchers found
that the longer the donor list was, the more likely those
solicited would be to donate as well.
To the people being solicited, the friends' and neigh-
bors' names on the list were a form of socia! evidence
about how they should respond. But the evidence would
not have been nearly as compelling had the names been
those of random strangers. In an experiment from the
1960s, first described in the Journal of Personality and 50-
ciat Psychology, residents of New York City were asked to
retum a lost wallet to its owner. They were highly likely
to aftempt to return the waUet when they !earned that an-
other New Yorker had previous!y aftempted to do so. But
!eaming that someone from a foreign country had tried
to retum the wallet didn't sway their decision one way or
the other.
53. The lesson for executives ftom these two experiments
is that persuasion can be extremely effective when it
comes from peers. The science supports what most sales
professionals already know: Testimonials from satis-
fied customers work best when the satisfied customer
OCTOBER 2001 75
Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
and the prospective customer share similar circum-
stances. That lesson can help a manager faced with the
task of selling a new corporate initiative. Imagine that
you're trying to streamline your department's work
processes. A group of veteran employees is resisting.
Rather than try to convince the employees of the move's
merits yourself, ask an old-timer who supports the initia-
tive to speak up for it at a team meeting. The compatriot's
testimony stands a much better chance of convincing the
group than yet another speech from the boss. Stated sim-
ply, influence is often best exerted horizontally rather
than vertically.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
Consistency:
People align with their clear commitments.
THE APPLICATION:
Make their commitments active,
public, and voluntary.
54. Liking is a powerful force, but the work of persuasion in-
volves more than simply making people feel warmly to-
ward you, your idea, or your product. People need not
only to like you but to feel committed to what you want
them to do. Good turns are one reliable way to make peo-
ple feel obligated to you. Another is to win a public com-
mitment from them.
My own research has demonstrated that most people,
once they take a stand or go on record in favor of a posi-
tion, prefer to stick to it. Other studies reinforce that find-
ing and go on to show how even a small, seemingly triv-
ial commitment can have a powerful effect on future
actions. Israeli researchers writing in 1983 in the Person-
ality and Social Psychology Bulletin recounted how they
asked half the residents of a large apartment complex to
sign a petition favoring the establishment of a recreation
center for the handicapped. The cause was good and the
request was small, so almost everyone who was asked
agreed to sign. Tvo weeks later, on National Collection
Day for the Handicapped, all residents of the complex
were approached at home and asked to give to the cause.
A little more than half of those who were not asked to
sign the petition made a contribution. But an astounding
92% of those who did sign donated money. The residents
of the apartment complex felt obligated to live up to their
commitments because those commitments were active,
public, and voluntary. These three features are worth con-
sidering separately.
There's strong empirical evidence to show that a choice
made actively - one that's spoken out loud or written
down or otherwise made explicit - is considerably more
likely to direct someone's future conduct than the same
choice left unspoken. Writing in 1996 in the Personality
55. and Social Psychology Bulletin, Delia Cioffi and Randy Gar-
ner described an experiment in which college students in
one group were asked to fill out a printed form saying
they wished to volunteer for an AIDS education project
in the public schools. Students in another group volun-
teered for the same project by leaving blank a form stat-
ing that they didn't want to participate. A few days later,
when the volunteers reported for duty, 74% of those who
showed up were students from the group that signaled
their commitment by filling out the form.
The implications are clear for a manager who wants to
persuade a subordinate to follow some particular course
of action: Get it in writing. Let's suppose you want your
employee to submit reports in a more timely fashion.
Once you believe you've won agreement, ask him to sum-
marize the decision in a memo and send it to you. By
doing so, you'll have greatly increased the odds that he'll
fulfill the commitment because, as a rule, people live up
to what they have written down.
Research into the social dimensions of commitment
suggests that written statements become even more pow-
erful when they're made public. In a classic experiment,
described in 1955 in the Journal of Abnormal and Social
Psychology, college students were asked to estimate the
length of lines projected on a screen. Some students were
asked to write down their choices on a piece of paper, sign
it, and hand the paper to the experimenter. Others wrote
their choices on an erasable slate, then erased the slate im-
mediately. Still others were instructed to keep their deci-
sions to themselves.
The experimenters then presented all three groups
with evidence that their initial choices may have been
wrong. Those who had merely kept their decisions in their
56. heads were the most likely to reconsider their original es-
timates. More loyal to their first guesses were the students
in the group that had written them down and immedi-
ately erased them. But by a wide margin, the ones most re-
luctant to shift from their original choices were those who
had signed and handed them to the researcher.
This experiment highlights how much most people
wish to appear consistent to others. Consider again the
matter of the employee who has been submitting late re-
ports. Recognizing the power of this desire, you should,
once you've successfully convinced him of the need to be
more timely, reinforce the commitment by making sure it
gets a public airing. One way to do that would be to send
the employee an e-mail that reads, "1 think your plan is
just what we need. I showed it to Diane in manufacturing
and Phil in shipping, and they thought it was right on tar-
get, too." Whatever way such commitments are formal-
ized, they should never be like the New Year's resolutions
people privately make and then abandon with no one the
wiser. They should be publicly made and visibly posted.
76 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
More than 300 years ago, Samuel Butler wrote a cou-
plet that explains succinctly why commitments must be
voluntary to be lasting and effective: "He that complies
against his will/Is of his own opinion still." If an undertak-
ing is forced, coerced, or imposed from the outside, it's not
a commitment; it's an unwelcome burden. Think how you
would react if your boss pressured you to donate to the
campaign of a political candidate. Would that make you
57. more apt to opt for that candidate in the privacy of a vot-
ing booth? Not likely. In fact, in their 1981 book Psycho-
logical Reactance (Academic Press), Sharon S. Brehm and
Jack W. Brehm present data that suggest you'd vote the
opposite way just to express your resentment of the boss's
coercion.
This kind of backlash can occur in the office, too. Let's
return again to that tardy employee. If you want to pro-
duce an enduring change in his behavior, you should
avoid using threats or pressure tactics to gain his compli-
ance. He'd likely view any change in his behavior as the
result of intimidation rather than a personal commitment
to change. A better approach would be to identify some-
thing that the employee genuinely values in the work-
place - high-quality workmanship, perhaps, or team
spirit-and then describe how timely reports are consis-
tent with those values. That gives the employee reasons
for improvement that he can own. And because he owns
them, they'll continue to guide his behavior even when
you're not watching.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
Authority:
People defer to experts.
THE APPLICATION:
Expose your expertise; don't assume
it's self-evident
Tvo thousand years ago, the Roman poet Virgil offered
this simple counsel to those seeking to choose correctly:
"Believe an expert." That may or may not be good advice,
but as a description of what people actually do, it can't be
58. beaten. For instance, when the news media present an ac-
knowledged expert's views on a topic, the effect on pub-
lic opinion is dramatic. A single expert-opinion news story
in the New York Times is associated with a 2% shift in pub-
lic opinion nationwide, according to a 1993 study de-
scribed in the Public Opinion Quarterly. And researchers
writing in the American Political Science Review in 1987
found that when the expert's view was aired on national
television, public opinion shifted as much as 4%. A cynic
might argue that these findings only illustrate the docile
submissiveness of the public. But a fairer explanation is
that, amid the teeming complexity of contemporary life,
a well-selected expert offers a valuable and efficient short-
cut to good decisions. Indeed, some questions, be they
legal, financial, medical, or technological, require so much
specialized knowledge to answer, we have no choice but
to rely on experts.
Since there's good reason to defer to experts, execu-
tives should take pains to ensure that they establish their
Surprisingly often, people mistakenly
assume that others recognize and
appreciate their experience.
own expertise before they attempt to exert influence. Sur-
prisingly often, people mistakenly assume that others rec-
ognize and appreciate their experience. That's what hap-
pened at a hospital where some colleagues and I were
consulting. The physical therapy staffers were frustrated
because so many of their stroke patients abandoned their
exercise routines as soon as they left the hospital. No mat-
ter how often the staff emphasized the importance of
59. regular home exercise-it is, in fact, crucial to the process
of regaining independent function - the message just
didn't sink in.
Interviews with some of the patients helped us pin-
point the problem. They were familiar with the back-
ground and training of their physicians, but the patients
knew little about the credentials of the physical therapists
wbo were urging them to exercise. It was a simple matter
to remedy that lack of information: We merely asked the
therapy director to display all the awards, diplomas, and
certifications of her staff on the walls of the therapy
rooms. The result was startling: Exercise compliance
jumped 34% and has never dropped since.
What we found immensely gratifying was not just how
much we increased compliance, but how. We didn't fool
or browbeat any of the patients. We informed them into
compliance. Nothing had to be invented; no time or re-
sources had to be spent in the process. The staff's exper-
tise was real -all we had to do was make it more visible.
The task for managers who want to establish their
claims to expertise is somewhat more difficult. They can't
simply nail their diplomas to the wall and wait for every-
one to notice. A little subtlety is called for. Outside the
United States, it is customary for people to spend time in-
teracting socially before getting down to business for the
first time. Frequently they gather for dinner the night be-
fore their meeting or negotiation. These get-togethers can
OCTOBER 2001 77
Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
60. Persuasion Experts, Safe at Last
Thanks to several decades of rigorous empirical
research by behavioral scientists, our understand-
ing of the how and why of persuasion has never
been broader, deeper, or more detailed. But these
scientists aren't the first students of the subject.
The history of persuasion studies is an ancient
and honorable one, and it has generated a long
rosterof heroes and martyrs.
A renowned student of social influence,
William McCui re, contends in a chapter of the
Handbook of Social Psychology, 3rd ed. (Oxford
University Press, 1985) that scattered among the
more than four millennia of recorded Western
history are four centuries in which the study of
persuasion flourished as a craft. The first was the
Periclean Age of ancient Athens, the second oc-
curred during the years of the Roman Republic,
the next appeared in the time of the European
Renaissance, and the last extended over the hun-
dred years that have just ended, which witnessed
the advent of large-scale advertising, mformation,
and mass media campaigns. Each of the three
previous centuries of systematic persuasion study
was marked by a flowering of human achieve-
ment that was suddenly cut short when political
authorities had the masters of persuasion killed.
The philosopher Socrates is probably the best
known of the persuasion experts to run afoul of
the powers that be.
Information about the persuasion process is a
threat because it creates a base of power entirely
61. separate from the one controlled by political au-
thorities. Faced with a rival source of influence,
rulers in previous centuries had few qualms
about eliminating those rare individuals who
truly understood how to marshal forces that
heads of state have never been able to monopo-
lize, such as cleverly crafted language, strategi-
cally placed information, and, most important,
psychological insight.
It would perhaps be expressing too much faith
in human nature to claim that persuasion experts
no longer face a threat from those who wield politi-
cal power. But because the truth about persuasion
is no longer the sole possession of a few brilliant,
inspired individuals, experts in the field can pre-
sumably breathe a littie easier Indeed, since most
people in power are interested in remaining in
power, they're likely to be more interested in ac-
quiring persuasion skills than abolishing them.
make discussions easier and help blunt disagreements-
remember the findings about liking and similarity - and
they can also provide an opportunity to establish exp)er-
tise. Perhaps it's a matter of telling an anecdote about
successfully solving a problem similar to the one that's on
the agenda at the next day's meeting. Or perhaps dinner
is the time to describe years spent mastering a complex
discipline-not in a boastful way but as part of the ordi-
nary give-and-take of conversation.
Granted, there's not always time for lengthy introduc-
tory sessions. But even in the course of the preliminary
conversation that precedes most meetings, there is almost
always an opportunity to touch lightly on your relevant
background and experience as a natural part of a sociable
62. exchange. This initial disclosure of personal information
gives you a chance to establish expertise early in the
game, so that when the discussion turns to the business at
hand, what you have to say will be accorded the respect it
deserves.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
Scarcity:
People want more ofwhat they can have less of.
THE APPLICATION:
Highlight unique benefits and
exclusive information.
Study after study shows that items and opportunities are
seen to be more valuable as they become less available.
That's a tremendously useful piece of information for
managers. They can harness the scarcity principle with
the organizational equivalents of limited-time, limited-
supply, and one-of-a-kind offers. Honestly informing a
coworker of a closing window of opportunity-the chance
to get the boss's ear before she leaves for an extended va-
cation, perhaps-can mobilize action dramatically.
Managers can learn from retailers how to frame their
offers not in terms of what people stand to gain but in
terms ofwhat they stand to lose if they don't act on the in-
formation. The power of "loss language" was demon-
strated in a 1988 study of California home owners written
up in the Journal of Applied Psychology. Half were told
that if they fully insulated their homes, they would save
a certain amount of money each day. The other half were
told that if they failed to insulate, they would lose that
amount each day. Significantly more people insulated
63. their homes when exposed to the loss language. The same
phenomenon occurs in business. According t o a 1994
study in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human
Decision Processes, potential losses figure far more heavily
in managers' decision making than potential gains.
78 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
In framing their offers, executives should also remem-
ber that exclusive information is more persuasive than
widely available data. A doctoral student of mine, Amram
Knishinsky, wrote his 1982 dissertation on the purchase
decisions of wholesale beef buyers. He observed that they
more than doubled their orders when they were told that,
because of certain weather conditions overseas, there was
likely to be a scarcity of foreign beef in the near future.
But their orders increased 600% when they were in-
formed that no one else had that information yet.
The persuasive power of exclusivity can be harnessed
by any manager who comes into possession of informa-
tion that's not broadly available and that supports an idea
or initiative he or she would like the organization to
adopt. The next time that kind of information crosses
your desk, round up your organization's key players. The
information itself may seem dull, but exclusivity will give
it a special sheen. Push it across your desk and say, "I just
got this report today. It won't be distributed until next
week, but I want to give you an early look at what it
shows." Then watch your listeners lean forward.
Allow me to stress here a point that should be obvious.
64. No offer of exclusive information, no exhortation to act
now or miss this opportunity forever should be made un-
less it is genuine. Deceiving colleagues into compliance is
not only ethically objectionable, it's foolhardy. If the de-
ception is detected-and it certainly will b e - i t will snuff
out any enthusiasm the offer originally kindled. It will
also invite dishonesty toward the deceiver. Remember the
rule of reciprocity.
Putting It All Together
There's nothing abstruse or obscure about these six prin-
ciples of persuasion. Indeed, they neatly codify our intu-
itive understanding of the ways people evaluate informa-
tion and form decisions. As a result, the principles are
easy for most people to grasp, even those with no formal
education in psychology. But in the seminars and work-
shops I conduct, I have learned that two points bear re-
peated emphasis.
First, although the six principles and their applications
can be discussed separately for the sake of clarity, they
should be applied in combination to compound their im-
pact. For instance, in discussing the importance of ex-
pertise, I suggested that managers use informal, social
conversations to establish their credentials. But that con-
versation affords an opportunity to gain information as
well as convey it. While you're showing your dinner com-
panion that you have the skills and experience your busi-
ness problem demands, you can also learn about your
companion's background, likes, and dislikes - informa-
tion that will help you locate genuine similarities and
give sincere compliments. By letting your expertise sur-
face and also establishing rapport, you double your per-
suasive power. And if you succeed in bringing your din-
ner partner on board, you may encourage other peopie
65. to sign on as well, thanks to the persuasive power of so-
cial evidence.
The other point I wish to emphasize is that the rules
of ethics apply to the science of social influence just as
they do to any other technology. Not only is it ethically
wrong to trick or trap others into assent, it's ill-advised in
practical terms. Dishonest or high-pressure tactics work
only in the short run, if at all. Their long-term effects are
malignant, especially within an organization, which can't
function properly without a bedrock level of trust and
cooperation.
That point is made vividly in the following account,
which a department head for a large textile manufacturer
related at a training workshop I conducted. She described
a vice president in her company who wrung public com-
mitments from department heads in a highly manipu-
lative manner. Instead of giving his subordinates time
to talk or think through his proposals carefully, he would
approach them individually at the busiest moment of
their workday and describe the benefits of his plan in
exhaustive, patience-straining detail. Then he would
move in for the kill. "It's very important for me to see
you as being on my team on this," he would say. "Can I
count on your support?" Intimidated, frazzled, eager to
chase the man from their offices so they could get back
to work, the department heads would invariably go along
with his request. But because the commitments never
felt voluntary, the department heads never followed
through, and as a result the vice president's initiatives all
blew up or petered out.
Tliis story had a deep impact on the other participants
in the workshop. Some gulped in shock as they recog-
nized their own manipulative behavior. But what stopped
66. everyone cold was the expression on the department
head's face as she recounted the damaging collapse of her
superior's proposals. She was smiling.
Nothing I could say would more effectively make the
point that the deceptive or coercive use of the principles
of social infiuence is ethically wrong and pragmatically
wrongheaded. Yet the same principles, if applied appro-
priately, can steer decisions correctly. Legitimate exper-
tise, genuine obligations, authentic similarities, real so-
cial proof, exclusive news, and freely made commitments
can produce choices that are likely to benefit both parties.
And any approach that works to everyone's mutual ben-
efit is good business, don't you think? Of course, I don't
want to press you into it, but, if you agree, 1 would love it
if you could just jot me a memo to that effect. ^
Reprint R0109D
To order reprints, see the last page of Executive Summaries.
To further explore the topic of this article, go to
www.hbr.org/explore.
OCTOBER 2001 79
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MGT 309 (10) – Fall 2012 - Naidu
Application Letter – Checklist
Writing a Letter of Application
1. In the opening paragraph:
a. Indicate how you heard about the opening.
b. State your objective and interest in the job.
c. Mention the job title
2. In the body of the letter;
a. Cite project and previous employment experiences that
68. demonstrate your qualifications for the job.
b. Indicate how college course work, your degree, and pertinent
training add to your qualifications for the job.
c. Refer to your enclosed resume
d. Explain how your qualifications and achievements can
contribute to the prospective employer
3. In the closing paragraph;
a. Request an interview
b. Provide your phone number and e-mail address so that you
can be contacted
c. End with a goodwill statement
After signature….
Add:
Enclosure: Resume
Management 309 – Fall 2012
Action Verbs
Management Skills
Administered
Analyzed
Assigned
Chaired
Consolidated
Contracted