Leadership Secrets to Emotional Persuasion: The Brain Science of Persuasive Powers

Are you working in an organization where leaders are good at persuading others? Do the leaders in your organization appeal to emotion first rather than logic or reason when trying to influence others?

One of the most powerful questions one can ask is: Am I persuading by appealing first to emotion rather than logic when persuading others? Emotionally intelligent leaders influence others by appealing to the emotions. Are you effective at influencing people? Do you focus on appealing to people’s emotions? Are you inspiring people to achieve goals by emotionally engaging your people?

The brain science of persuasive powers

If we pay attention only to appealing to logic and reason when trying to influence others, we won’t unlock the full potential of our persuasive powers. Research on the brain during decision making reveals that we respond to attempts at persuasion analytically or automatically.

Those who respond analytically use a reasoned evaluative approach to reach a decision, but this requires enormous energy. The brain consumes stores of glucose and calories every time it evaluates. And because it’s human nature to conserve energy, most of us won’t respond with the extra effort it takes to be analytical.

In fact, most people go into autoresponder mode whenever possible. We avoid cognitive assessment because it is hard work. This does not mean that we are lazy; it’s actually a primitive survival instinct. We automatically take the easy path to conserve energy in case we are attacked or threatened. That is why most people do not act with logic and reason. We make emotional decisions and then justify them with logic and reason.

Working with an experienced executive coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating leadership assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i and CPI 260 can help you become a transformational leader who persuades people by appealing to emotion. He can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and inspires people to happily commit to the company’s strategy and vision.