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An Invitation to Change Your Life
An Excerpt from
Move the World: Persuade Your Audience, Change Minds and Achieve Your Goals
Author’s note: This is an excerpt from the book
I am writing, Move the World: Persuade Your Audience, Change Minds and Achieve
Your Goals, which will be published by John Wiley & Sons in April 2007.
Over the next several issues of The Beacon , we will share excerpts with you. If
you would like to be kept informed of events related to the book launch as the
publication date approaches, please send your name and email address to my colleague,
Marni Lane, at MHLane@TheLatimerGroup.com.
We also welcome your comments, insights and experiences. Enjoy!
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian David McCullough once wrote that “The
power to persuade is power indeed.” McCullough was describing a power – and
a communication platform – far beyond what is available to most of us. But
the point remains nonetheless, even for those who will never be president: There
is power in our words, in the message we craft and in the words we speak. Quite simply,
if you can communicate persuasively, you can add value to any group in any situation.
Every once in a while, an idea comes along that is simple to understand, yet powerful.
I refer to ideas like these as “deceptively simple.” They are easy to
grasp, absorb and retain, and therefore, their power can be underestimated. Part
of their power, however, lies in their simplicity. This book contains one of those
ideas.
In my professional life with The Latimer Group, I have discovered and developed
something I am certain is worthy of your time and consideration – a simple
system that will dramatically increase your ability to persuade your audience to
buy your product, follow your lead or invest in your idea.
All of these things – sales, leadership and raising capital – require
the ability to communicate and persuade. This ability is a skill that serves us well
in nearly every single industry in the modern global economy and in every facet of
our lives. Yet this ability to stand up and communicate effectively and persuade
an audience remains challenging and elusive for many of us. When we are in the presence
of those who can articulately and persuasively make a point, in a room of five or
five hundred, we are impressed. We remember their names. We remember their presence
. And most of all, we remember their message .
Now, think about your own ability to persuade. Think about your ability to communicate.
To sell. To influence. Could you be better? Significantly better? Let your imagination
run a bit. What if every single time you had something to say, you had the ability
to be heard and to be persuasive? How would that make you feel? Let me ask a slightly
different question. Do you remember a moment when you realized you were not being
heard, that your words did not matter to your audience? How did that feel? In this
book, I write about how we communicate, and more specifically, how we persuade. And
I discuss these topics with you through a deceptively simple model I call GAP, which
stands for Goal, Audience, Plan. The GAP Method is a means of leverage for you in
your quest to persuade, to sell, to influence, to lead.
Persuasion is not telling people what to think. Persuasion is shaping what people
think about, how they make decisions and the variables they consider in making their
choices. By knowing your Goals, understanding your Audience and following a basic
Plan for a persuasive message, you will dramatically increase your ability to be
heard.
Books can – and do – change our lives. It is my sincere hope that this
book will have a profound impact on yours.
 Beacon Issue -
May 2006
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