Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Warren Buffet Uses This One Weird Trick to Be Persuasive

I only have two clickbait moves. There's the "Listen to this battle cry from a supermodel" (and variants) move:
"Before You Say You've Never Discriminated Against Someone, Listen To This Battlecry From A Model"
And the "one weird trick" move.
The former didn't seem applicable in this context.

Robert Cialdini at CNBC, July 12:

Warren Buffett uses this simple psychological trick to be persuasive and so can you, says influence expert
Warren Buffett is perhaps the most famous and most successful investor alive today. Dubbed the "Oracle of Omaha," the 86-year-old CEO of Berkshire Hathaway has a net worth of more than $75 billion
Most people excitedly await Buffett's annual letter to Berkshire shareholders for the sage advice he gives. But psychology professor Bob Cialdini, who has spent his entire career studying the science of influence and persuasion, is drawn to something more subtle. 
"I've been getting his annual shareholder reports for more than 15 years now. And I've noticed something that he does as a CEO of the company Berkshire Hathaway that I've never seen in any other report," says Cialdini of Buffett. 
"On the first or second page of the report he describes an error, a mistake, that he and his company made the previous year. 
"It is so disarming," Cialdini tells CNBC. 
"I say to myself every time, 'Oh! This guy is being straight with us. What is he going to say next? I need to pay attention to everything he says next!' 
"And that's where he describes the strengths," says Caldini, author of New York Times bestselling books "Influence: Science & Practice" and "Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade." 
"He's established himself as a trustworthy credible source of information before he describes the things that are most favorable, that he wants me to process and recall. Brilliant."...
...MORE, including video.

I may have made a mistake with the 'only two moves' intro. Thinking about it we've also used the "blank, blank will shock you" template (and variations):


And then there was the whole Upworthy 'clickbait generator' phase.
Oh, and the "Buzzfeed Story Generator" chapter in the blog's life.
And the whole search engine optimization fiasco:

And the....where was I?
Think We're Not In A Housing Bubble? 
Maybe You Should Listen To This Angry Child Star.