At work, we recently had a head swap for the director of the building. The old guy was well enough, but the new person is much more interesting. He is a nice, southern salesman. Depending where you read this, that might all sound oxymoronic. Regardless, I can tell you what he really is – a rhetorician. In all interactions with him, I have found it exceedingly interesting to see how deftly he navigates any question at all. This might seem like a cheap trick or a sham. However, humans are thinking beings, and all one needs to do is convince you of something. In a pure sense, that’s the only goal.

The salesman has been in a slew of meetings I’ve also been in. I’ve enjoyed watching him work as he is such a natural in talking to people. A few things that I see him do really well are:

  • Freely admit ignorance to cede conversational ground and encourage you of his honesty.
  • Keep a very fine sense of the pulse of the conversation.
  • String a mix of good sounding things together to convey whatever he wants to say in a palatable light.
  • Naturally appeal to effective sources of credibility.
  • Fluid understanding of the economy of conversation. Below I will discuss these briefly.

Freely admit ignorance to cede conversational ground and encourage you of his honesty.

Phrases like “Y’all are the experts.” and “I’ll be the first to say I don’t know.” are seemingly innocuous ways of saying “I don’t know.”. However, it should be firstly be said that humility, real or not, gets sparse the more you go up the chain of command. This, in its own right, bodes very well in the eyes of those working below someone. Secondly, saying “I don’t know” freely implies that one might well know something if they claim to.This can of course be disproved with sufficient historical data, but not over the lifespan of a sale.

Keep a very fine sense of the pulse of the conversation.

Through out any meeting, the new director always matches the tone of what is going on. This may seem bog standard for a human, but the skill comes in the use of the tone from the match. The beginning of the statement will begin in the matched tone, and only after staying in the tone for how long its gravity dictates will he start to pull the conversation to where he wants it to go.

Another instance that shows a great understanding of tone: his use of tonal jumps. Say we are talking about something grave or serious, he is able to drop in a joke or a silly anecdote that feels pleasantly out of place.

String a mix of good sounding things together to convey whatever he wants to say in a palatable light.

This skill is that of any manager. A famous example is putting a positive spin on someone getting fired. But in this example, the good sounding things are folded in so naturally with news that goes against your own talking points that it really softens your opposition.

Naturally appeal to effective sources of credibility.

In the short term of any conversation, one has to build credibility. “Historical data” was mentioned above, but this should be broadened to “context”. Context is inescapable in every moment of every piece of media. So, the director gets the context of being the director – rather credible already. But, rarely will he lean on that. Instead you will find him using actions performed or to be performed to boost your view of him. Likewise, he will find commonalities and shared viewpoints to shore up his credibility. Maybe you and him love golf, grew up in the south, or something else. But you leave a conversation feeling like his friend.

However, he never says, “I’m smart!” or “I’m the boss”. He’s more apt to say, “Send me an email about that and it will be done.”

Fluid understanding of the economy of conversation.

All the previous points mount to this one. All things have an economy about them. All things have a price and are fungible for some currency.

Call it “credibility” or “cool points” or “social credit”, the currency of social interaction is how much people trust you and feel served by you. In even a short conversation, you can see the new director deftly gather the currency of his economy before spending it a little where needed.

Addendum: Are rhetoricians bad people?

This article is meant to be solely descriptive of phenomena I’ve seen exhibited by this person. I make no attempts to moralize his actions or behavior. I will posit, far and away from his ability to convince, the new director seems like a genuine person – just charismatic.

In the broad sense, are rhetoricians bad people? Do the skills to convince people of things make people “slime-y” or “connive-y”? I would hazard no. Just as an understanding of economics doesn’t make one stingy. It isn’t the understanding that makes one a good or bad person but how one wields it.