By name: strategic-influence-characters description: Select a communication "character" and influence speed based on neurobiological triggers to drive alignment. Use this when pitching a vision that stakeholders find "inconceivable," when unblocking a stalled decision, or when you need to accelerate team change without triggering the "safety system" (fight/flight).
The brain is like a college campus with different departments; most people rely on the "History Department" (past experience) too much. Effective influence requires bypassing the brain's "Safety System" and activating the "Purpose" or "Reward" systems by choosing a specific persona and speed of change.
1. Choose Your Influence Speed
Match your timeline to the resistance level of your stakeholders.
- Slow (The "Let them Fail" Approach): Allow the stakeholder to experience the consequences of their decision. Use this only for low-stakes issues where failure is a safe teaching tool.
- Moderate (The "Challenger" Approach): Do not aim for a "yes" in the meeting. Instead, "teach" them something new about the market or user that they cannot unsee. Wait 30 days for them to observe this truth in the real world before asking for a decision.
- Fast (The "Cognitive Dissonance" Approach): Challenge the belief, not the person. Ask, "What do you believe that leads you to this conclusion?" Drill below the behavior into the underlying logic to expose contradictions in the moment.
2. Select Your Character
Identify which "character" best fits your personality and the situation. Explicitly ask for permission to play this role.
- The Barbarian (Devil’s Advocate): Hits the idea with a sledgehammer to see if it still stands.
- The Ask: "I’m going to play the devil’s advocate for a second and hit this really hard with a sledgehammer to see if it’s solid. Is that okay?"
- The Caregiver (Compassion-Based): Focuses on the user's pain.
- The Ask: "I want to be the protector of the user experience here. Why are we not considering the person at the other end of this email?"
- The Logic-Master (Causality-Based): Challenges the "why" and the data.
- The Ask: "I’d like to be the character that inserts more causality here. Can we walk through the specific inputs that generate this outcome?"
3. Manage the "Inconceivable" Gap
When stakeholders are Low in Openness and High in Conscientiousness (common in finance/ops), they view creative vision as "inconceivable" or a waste of time.
- Translate into ROI: High-conscientiousness brains see "Daydreaming" as a crisis. Translate your vision into the language of efficiency, risk reduction, or specific second-order effects.
- Address the Safety System: If a stakeholder feels unsafe (uncertainty, doubt), their brain objective shifts from "Productivity" to "Getting back to safety." You cannot influence them until you address the risk they perceive.
4. The Relationship Equation
Influence is a function of three variables. If any are zero, influence fails:
- Utility (Ability): Do you have the context and skill to solve the problem?
- Trust (Risk): Does the stakeholder feel you are dangerous or likely to undermine them?
- Appeal (Experience): Are you a "miserable experience" to work with? If you are blunt and harsh, the brain's "Safety System" will sequester you, and information will stop flowing to you.
Examples
Example 1: Pitching a "Crazy" Product Vision
- Context: A PM pitching a complete UI overhaul to a conservative, metrics-driven CEO.
- Input: The CEO says, "We can't prove the ROI on a color change."
- Application: Choose the Logic-Master character. Instead of arguing aesthetics, use Moderate Speed. Say, "I want to challenge our logic on brand trust. Here is a study on how UI polish correlates with conversion. Spend this week looking at our competitors' new apps and tell me if you feel more or less trust."
- Output: The CEO returns a week later having "seen" the gap themselves, moving the idea from "inconceivable" to "believable."
Example 2: Fixing a "Miserable Experience" Reputation
- Context: A highly skilled engineer whose ideas are ignored because they are too blunt.
- Input: The engineer is told, "You're right, but no one wants to work with you."
- Application: Focus on the Appeal variable. Use the Caregiver character for the next sprint. Every time a bug is found, instead of saying "This is dumb," ask, "How can I help make sure we don't feel this stress again?"
- Output: By improving the "shared experience" (Appeal), the engineer's Utility (Ability) is finally allowed back into the decision-making mesh.
Common Pitfalls
- Boiling the Ocean: Trying to fix your personality, habitat, and focus all at once. Pick one "pot of ocean" to boil first (e.g., "What kind of experience am I to work with?").
- Neglecting the Anterior Insular Cortex: Using abstract mission statements (e.g., "Change the world") instead of specific roles (e.g., "The user is counting on us to save them 10 minutes").
- The "Beta-Mode" Trap: Staying in "Get Shit Done" mode 100% of the time. Innovation requires Gamma (Deep Focus) and Alpha (Daydreaming) time. If your calendar is 100% meetings/emails, you have zero access to your "Art" or "Science" departments.