What You Can Learn About Persuasion
Doesn’t it seem silly to analyze a rap song for ideas on how to be better at persuasion and influence? I don’t know. You tell me.
Capital Thinking • Issue #620 • View online
I walked out of the TEDx conference 20 minutes before my talk and I was planning on just going to the airport and flying home.
I’m a quitter. I was terrified. I did not want to give my talk.
My plan was to go home and just never return any of the angry calls from the organizers.
12 THINGS I LEARNED FROM EMINEM ABOUT PERSUASION
I was supposed to be the last speaker of the day, everyone was tired, and the woman speaking before me was amazing.
She was incredibly inspiring and showed how, despite having extreme pain and medical troubles since birth, she was able to rise up and break a very physically demanding world record. I only saw the beginning of her talk but there were already tears everywhere.
Then it would be my turn and then there was going to be a special performance from the local ballet and then there would be a party.
I didn’t want to give my talk. I couldn’t even breathe.
I didn’t want to give my talk. I couldn’t even breathe.
I was going to talk about my book, “Choose Yourself,” and the principles I had learned when I was repeatedly going broke and always had to bounce back. But I was insecure: I wasn’t as good as any of the other speakers, particularly the woman speaking before me.
And I wasn’t as good as the ballet. And I wasn’t going to be as fun as the party afterwards. So what was the point of me?
I felt like a fraud. Like I was useless.
Like 2,000 people would look at me and they would all be thinking, “Oh my god, can he JUST SHUT UP already?”
I went back and gave my talk.
Whenever someone starts talking to me about cognitive biases, I always want to ask, “But how would I use this?”
Cognitive biases are shortcuts the brain uses to make decisions when things are complicated. But can I secretly use them to my advantage?
Here’s an example…
Negativity bias: Given many possible interpretations of an event, assume the worst-case scenario and act accordingly.
For instance, if you pass a bush and the leaves rustle, it could be one of two things: 1) The wind passing through (harmless), or 2) A lion ready to pounce (dangerous!).
Negativity bias kicks in and you RUN. The humans that did not have this bias wired into their brains probably died and did not become one of our ancestors.
They were eaten by lions.
There are many cognitive biases. But it’s one thing to know them. It’s another to use them. You can use them to persuade people, judge people, and you can use them in high-stakes negotiations. But only if you know how.
There are many cognitive biases. But it’s one thing to know them. It’s another to use them.
Most books, articles, talks I’ve seen on cognitive biases give zero guidance on how to use them to help create the world I want to live in. I’m not an academic in a laboratory. I live or die on these cognitive biases and their use to me.
This is where Eminem comes in.
With 220 million albums sold, Eminem is the top-selling rapper of all time. Drake is a distant No. 2, coming in at 150 million albums sold.
Let’s look at the final scene from the movie “8 Mile,” an autobiographical movie Eminem made and starred in.
You don’t need to know the movie. I will break down the scene line by line so you will know everything there is to know about influence and persuasion, cognitive bias, and defeating your competition.
First, here’s all you need to know about the movie.
Eminem is a poor, no-collar, white-trash guy living in a trailer park. He’s beaten on, works crappy jobs, gets betrayed, gets beaten up, etc. But he lives to rap and break out somehow.
In the first scene, he is having a “battle” against another rapper and he chokes. He gives up without saying a word. He’s known throughout the movie as someone who chokes under pressure and he seems doomed for failure.
Until he chooses himself.
The scene I will show you and then break down is the final battle in the movie. He’s the only white guy and the entire audience is black. He’s up against the reigning champion that the audience loves.
He wins the battle using cognitive biases and I will show you how. With his techniques you can go up against any competitor.
After he wins it, he can go on to do anything he wants. To win any battle.
But he walks off because he’s going to do his own thing.
He chooses himself.
The movie ends with him walking off after his victory.
*Featured post photo by Mona Eendra on Unsplash
*First appeared on Capital Thinking June 29, 2020