Win Bigly – by Scott Adams

‘Persuasion in a world where facts don’t matter’

This book is all about persuasion, and it’s phenomenal. Scott Adams uses the 2016 U Presidential campaign to dissect and tools and techniques of persuading others, both on an individual level and to the masses. Things like ‘cognitive dissonance’ and ‘confirmation bias’ make it possible for persuasion to work, and Adams shows us things we can use ourselves, like the ‘high ground maneuver’ and ‘two ways to win, no ways to lose’.

 

 

“Win Bigly”

 Persuasion in a world where facts do not matter

Intro – where I prime you for the rest

People thought that the clown ca not win. To ‘ hello Mr. President Trump

In order to make that transition people had to completely rewrite the movie in their heads.

Filters:- How strong is persuasion?

We are emotional creatures who make decisions first and then rationalize them after the fact. As a rule, irrational people do not know they are irrational. After the election results came in and both halves of the country accused the other half of being irrational.

A). The persuasion filter

A key concept of a filter is that it is not intended to give you an accurate view of reality. All it is supposed to do is give you better results than the other filters. The best way to determine the filter’s usefulness is by asking if it makes you happy and it does a good job of predicting the future.

B). The Santa Claus filter

As a kid, adults indoctrinate you with an entertaining belief in the magic of all kinds. Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny.

C). The church filter

Sunday school from ages 6-11. He believed everything the church told him. It was cool to go to heaven, but it did a bad job of predicting things whilst he was alive.

D). The alien experiment filter

Aliens watching at all times.

E). The atheist filter

There is no supreme being. Humans are rational creatures who can observe their environment. The filter never made him happy though and could not predict anything.

F). The weed filter

Loads of weed. People not high seemed nicer than usual.

G). Mushroom filter

Once you understand your experience as just an interpretation of reality, you can not go back.

H). Moist robot filter

Humans are moist computers that can be reprogrammed once you know what the computer interface is. Assume your brain is subject to the laws of physics and does not have any magical qualities like free will or a soul.

I). Persuasion filter

Summary of persuader types:-Master persuaders – Steve Jobs, Tony Robbins, Madonna, etc.

Cognitive scientists, Commercial grade persuaders (like Scott)

Horrible Monster:- Left vs right news

The people listening to the left news were convinced trump was a monster while the voters consuming conservative news thought Hillary was evil incarnate.

Why Facts are overrated:-“The most important perceptual shift in history”

 Filters:–

We all have movies in our head which we believe are accurate views of reality. Those movies are very different. Normally we do not notice the differences in our personal movies. But when politics are involved, the stakes are higher and we notice.

What happened? 

If you watched the election cycle and conclude Trump is just a lucky clown, you have missed one of the most important perceptual shifts in history. Adams knew Trump’s persuasive skill would trigger massive cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias.

About facts

Persuasion tip 1 – humans are hardwired to reciprocate favors. If you want someone’s cooperation in the future, do something for that person today.

Persuasion tip 2 – persuasion is effective even when the subject recognizes the technique.

Why did Adams believe Trump would win?

1. Make a claim that is directionally accurate, the bus has a big exaggeration or factual error in it
2. Wait for people to notice the exaggeration or error and spend talking about how wrong it is
3. When you dedicate the focus and energy to an idea. You remember it. Your brain’s focus will rationalize it as a high priority, even if it is not.

Trump called it a ‘WALL’ without any details

By continuing to call it a wall the media put together cost estimates and all kinds of energy. They criticized Trump for being so stupid for coming up with it. But border security was the new big problem. He avoided clarifying anything other than a wall, even copping the criticism for being dumb

Persuasion tip 3 – the things that you think about most will irrationally rise in importance in your mind

Facts are weaker than fiction 

If you have ever tried talking to someone out of their political beliefs by facts, you know it does not work because people think they have their own, better facts. And if they know they do not have better ones, they change the subject.

How to see reality in a more useful way:-

Cognitive dissonance:-

The mental conditions in which people rationalize why their actions are inconsistent with their thoughts and beliefs. For example, if you think you are smart, but notice that you are doing something dumb, you spontaneously hallucinate that there is a good reason for it. And if you think you are honest and do something dishonest, you rationalize dishonesty. In Wikipedia, it says, Mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs or ideas at the same time will Perform an action contradictory to their beliefs, ideas or values; or is confronted by the new information which conflicts with the existing ideas. Sounds different?

How to spot cognitive dissonance?

When you experience it, you have a hallucination that becomes your new reality. You can recognize it in others but can not recognize it in yourself. The election was the biggest mass dissonance of all time.

Confirmation bias:-

The human tendency to see all evidence as supporting your beliefs, even if the evidence is nothing more than coincidence. We believe it only happens to other people. A tendency to interpret any new information as being supportive of the ones we already hold. It does not matter how poorly it fits our existing world. We will twist it , Supporters for and against Trump, would look at the same information and draw different conclusions. If you do not understand cognitive bias, you might think new information can change people’s opinions. As a trained persuader, Scott knows this is not the case

People do not change opinions about emotional topics just because some information proved their opinion to be nonsense. Your brain will take in information and will take the path of least resistance, and instantly interpret the observations to fit your existing world view.

Mass delusions:-

The dotcom bubble was based on mass delusions. All financial bubbles are based on mass delusions. In 1692 and 1693, authorities executed 20 people in Massachusetts for being witches. It happened when a few people had fits with no cause. One person said it was a witch. So everyone’s brain was set to witch watch.

When reality bifurcated:-

When the election was over, both sides woke up in different movies. One was a disaster the other was an inspirational story. The anti trumpers were locked In the Hitler movie and confirmation bias would keep them there.

The making of a hypnotist:-

Part of the process of learning hypnosis involves building self-confidence in your skills until your subjects can sense it by your demeanor. Confidence is the key to making hypnosis work.

Persuasion tip 3 – display confidence (real or faked) to improve your persuasiveness. You never have to believe yourself, or at least appear as if you do, in order to get anyone else to believe

Hypnotists can make you quit smoking or lose weight. Can even induce massive orgasms in a willing subject just by choosing the right words in a private setting. A co-worker asked Scott whilst in Hypnosis school; she was screaming for about an hour and declared it a success.

Persuasion tip 4 – design your content with enough blank spots for people to fill them in with whatever makes them happiest

Romance 

Human beings are not rational. A man who thinks he is, might try and attract a woman by being nice that seems reasonable. But seduction wise, nice is boring and nice people are dime a dozen. A better seduction strategy would involve participating in any co-ed activity in which you happen to excel. A common misperception is nice guys finish last and the jerky guys get the woman. The truth is, the jerks are usually wealthy or beautiful and can get away with it.

 

• how President Trump does what others can’t:-

President Trumps talent stack

From How to fail at everything and still win big. Talent stack is a collection of skills that together make the skills unique and valuable. The key concept is that they work well with one another

Publicity, reputation, strategy, negotiation (art of the deal), public speaking, sense of humor, thick skin, high energy, size, smart

The persuasion stack: –People like to back their tribe as they see it.

All of us are in multiple tribes if you consider gender, ethnicity, ages, wealth, religions, etc.

Smaller fear and big fear:- Fear that you think about most often is strong.

 

Aspirations:- Trump-linked everything to American’s aspirations. Make them safer, richer and just plain greater. Hilary was stronger together, which is almost defensive.

Habit:- If you want to persuade for something new, associate with an existing habit.

Analogies:-

Startup says the ‘Uber app without the Uber car’ is only the starting point for the idea but from here you can add more details. Analogies are primarily for describing something and not persuasion. People already who had a firm idea on Trump were not persuaded by the Hitler analogies.

Reason:-If there is no emotional content to a decision, you have to use reason.

 Word thinking:-

Setting the table It is easier to persuade someone if they believe you are persuasive. Credibility, of any sort, is persuasive Trump wrote AOD. When Adams hypnotises people, the clients describe in great detail what they imagine in their prior lives. But Adams concluded they always are about what is popular in Hollywood. Never Chinese peasant in a prior life

To set the table Dress the part,  Broadcast credentials Brand yourself as a winner. Meet in the most impressive space you control. Set expectations ahead of time. persuade with thoughts and images that will bias them for the frame of mind you want,  Bring high energy.

Go bigly or go home:-

When there is mass confusion or complexity, people automatically gravitate towards the strongest most confident voice. We humans do not like uncertainty, so we are attracted by those who offer clarity and simple answers, even if they are wrong and incomplete. Master persuaders thrive in chaotic environments by offering clarity people crave

Persuasion tip 5 – people prefer certainty over uncertainty, even when the certainty is wrong.

Is President Trump a natural persuader?:-

Trump loved Norman Vicent Peale, the power of positive thinking, So did Adams

The Peale filter comes through everything Trump does. Trump thought himself into the presidency.

• how to use persuasion in business and politics:-

How to use visual persuasion

 

Persuasion tip 5 – visual persuasion is more powerful than non-visual persuasion. Difference is large 1.       The wall:  Big beautiful wall Bad persuasion – we will use a variety of means to improve border security. Good persuasion – we will build a big, beautiful wall. 2.       ISIS and those cages Trump said ISIS cuts off heads and drowns people in cages.   3.       ISIS and the Vatican Trump was asked to quote on the Pope’s criticism of capitalism. He would either disagree with the Pope or capitalism, the way it was posed. But he said, “ISIS is coming to get him and take over the Vatican”.Everything got flipped

 How to persuade by association:-

Easiest forms of persuasion involve associating with another in a way that makes some of the goodness or badness rub off on the other. If you tell enough bathroom jokes, people will associate you with shit.Try and stick with topics that are interesting, useful and positive.

How to create two ways to win, no way to lose:-

Much of Trump’s revenue comes from the licensing deal, he would set it up so there is no way to lose. If the business that licenses Trump’s name fails, Trump’s company keeps all of the licensing payments paid so far, including a large upfront payment. If the business succeeds, Trump makes even more money

How to use the high ground maneuver:-

The maneuver takes the bate out of the details, the weeds. It elevates the argument to higher ground where there is no disagreement.

For example Steve Jobs:-

iPhone was a failure, it kept dropping out of calls. When asked, Jobs said.”We are not perfect. Phones are not perfect. We all know that. But we want to make our users happy”.He took the argument up to a level where you say something that is absolutely true while changing the context at the same time. Once the move has been executed, the other participants will fear to appear small-minded, if they drag the argument back to their detail level. It is an instant game-changer.

“Win Bigly” Book Summary:-

The book by scott adams depicts the trump win and based on persuasions. A must-read a non-fiction book.