Persuadable: How Great Leaders Change Their Minds to Change the World

Psychologists call this innate approach motivated reasoning. Instead of beginning with the evidence and then proceeding toward a conclusion, motivated reasoning is post hoc; it starts with a conclusion and then searches out evidence to support that conclusion.

while leaders are less likely to take perspectives, when they do, it has extraordinary benefits, especially from a communication perspective.

consistency is most important to us as it relates to the people around us. That’s why when someone acts in a way that is inconsistent with our predictions we often feel disappointed, angry, or even betrayed. Likewise, most of us strive to remain consistent so that we’re not perceived by the people around us as flaky and untrustworthy.

We do need to fight against external pressures at times. There is perhaps no better example than entrepreneurship. It’s common knowledge that an overwhelming majority of businesses fail. Even with the best, most profitable idea, the pressure to fold—from family, friends, critics, and investors—is often extraordinary. Every entrepreneur who has beco

Two: the world will almost certainly pull you in the direction against your own genius. “Society, everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members,” he laments. Emerson makes it clear that in the face of societal pressure, we will be tempted to ignore our own genius and instead conform to the current norms and standards d

The second clue you should be on the lookout for is confusion.

2012 movie Lincoln

Autonomy doesn’t mean reflexively resisting all external influences. That would be impossible, not to mention foolish. It means taking actions that “are both personally valued and well synthesized with the totality of one’s values and beliefs” regardless of who suggests those actions.

“That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.”