🧠 The cognitive bias that will make you instantly more persuasive

The most persuasive communicators in the world have realised something that most of us haven’t…

Let me explain…

There’s a cognitive bias known as The Illusion of Explanatory Depth.

It’s a fancy way of saying that we think we understand the world far better than we really do.

As founders and thought leaders, we find ourselves in situations where we want to change people’s minds. Good communicators do this by:

1. Telling stories ❤️‍🔥

2. Sharing data 📈

3. Using logic 🧠 

4. Saying what they think 🗣️

World class communicators do this by:

Asking questions that expose knowledge gaps.

Instead of explaining it, I want you to experience it for yourself. Think smoking is unhealthy? You might not after watching this 105 second clip from Toastmaster champion, Mohammed Qahtani…🍿

By packaging (false) information in the form of a question, Mohammed demonstrated just how easy it is to challenge our audience’s beliefs without becoming confrontational.

Instead of feeling triggered and our guard going up, we were open to hearing what he had to say and that is where persuasion begins.

Just imagine if the information he shared was actually true.

His wasn’t, but yours can and should be.

5 questions that will make you instantly more persuasive

1. The Provocative Question 💥:
   ‘Why does… [insert controversial statement]?’
   

2. The Curiosity Question 🤔:
   ‘Did you know that… [insert staggering stat or fact]?’
   

3. The Reframe Question 🔁:
   ‘What if… [insert unthinkable idea]?’
   

4. The Reflection Question 🪞:
   ‘How would you feel if…[insert thought provoking scenario]’
   

5. The Suggestion Question 💡:
   ‘Could it be that… [insert unconventional wisdom]’

I hope you find these question prompts useful this week. If you do, please do shout about it!

Alex