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Get People to Do What You Want

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Get People to Do What You Want

How to Use Body Language and Words for Maximum Effect

Career Press,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Use tactics from a former Army interrogator to persuade, question, interpret and understand other people.

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Editorial Rating

9

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Recommendation

Former US Army battlefield interrogator Gregory Hartley and best-selling author Maryann Karinch share the secrets of getting people to do what you want. The authors guide you through subtle manipulation in a conversational, accessible voice. They modified Army interrogation tactics to fit every day life to help you rise to the top, ask questions that elicit the information you want, draw followers and thrive in a negotiation. Whether you’re a CEO or hoping for your first leadership role, you can push your agenda ahead if you have the right tools – just handle with care.

Summary

Social desires drive people because they want to stand out and to belong.

Like chimps, humans are social animals who need to belong to compatible groups and distinguish themselves as exceptional, or alpha, members. In 1943, psychologist Abraham Maslow wrote about the hierarchy of human needs, plotting them on a pyramid. At the bottom, he put survival and security-related needs, such as food and water. Socially dependent needs for love, belonging, esteem and self-actualization sit above survival needs.

Army interrogators prey on a subject’s socially dependent needs. To do the same, assume that the person you are questioning hasn’t satisfied all of his or her needs for self-actualization. Target the person’s need for self-realization or self-esteem. You can weaken your subjects by attacking their sense of belonging or build them up by enhancing it.

Interrogators gain leverage by manipulating other people’s self-image.

People are either “typical, supertypical” or “subtypical.” Typical people demonstrate qualities and behave in ways that other people in their social ...

About the Authors

Gregory Hartley and Maryann Karinch have co-written 10 books, including The Art of Body Talk and How to Be an Expert on Anything in Two Hours. 

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