This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

Being right is not persuasive. It is a prerequisite, and it is the part you have already done, and it is why you are stuck.

Why good arguments lose

Because almost no resistance is logical. The person nodding along in the meeting has a reason to prefer the current arrangement that they are not going to say out loud. The proposal you sent was clear, correct and unanswered. The team agreed to the change and then simply carried on as before. In each case you were arguing with the rational half of someone and the decision was being made by the other half, which does not respond to evidence and was never addressed.

What this course covers

Forty-two lessons across six ways people actually get moved. Writing first: why a message goes unread, applying persuasion structures to text, copywriting and story, using emotion without manipulating, building a real exchange rather than a broadcast, arguing from a weak position, and reaching someone who has already ignored you twice. Then asking instead of telling: the GROW model, nine principles, the balance wheel and scales, listening well enough that the real objection appears, identifying and using the other person's language, what separates a powerful question from an open one, and delivering a message so it holds. Then the room: Dale's cone, preparation, delivery styles, group dynamics and resistance, group norms, metaphor and parable as working devices, how to open and how to close, and doing it through a screen. Then contested ground: making the case for something people are defensive about, designing a session that changes perception, role-play and facilitation as tactics, and checking whether anything moved. Then driving action: eight standard failures, Kotter's model, building genuine urgency, the rider-elephant-path frame, vision, quick wins and making it stick. Finally across borders: context, feedback, argument, power distance, decision-making, constructive conflict and time.

A note on where this material comes from

Three of the six blocks were recorded for a people-function audience. The written persuasion block uses candidate outreach as its worked case; the coaching block is framed as coaching inside an organisation. The third is a course on running training about diversity and inclusion — included not for the subject but because it is the only material here that deals directly with persuading a room that has already decided to defend itself, which is the hardest version of this skill. The techniques in all three are general.

Who is teaching this

I am Mike. I built the people system at Preply as it became a unicorn, and I have worked at Wargaming, iDeals and Alfa-Bank. More than 1.6 million students have enrolled in my courses across 185 countries, and over 150,000 specialists have gone through my programmes. I hold PHRi and SHRM-CP certifications and represent HRCI in more than ten countries.

What is included

• Lifetime access to all 42 lessons

• Active instructor support in the Q&A section

• A Udemy Certificate of Completion

• Working models: AIDA, FAB, SPIN, GROW, the balance wheel, Dale's cone, Kotter's eight steps, the rider-elephant-path frame, the cultural map

• Direct treatment of resistance rather than advice to be more confident

Where to start

Take the last proposal of yours that went nowhere and write down what the person had to lose by agreeing. If you cannot answer, you never addressed the actual objection. Enrol now and start today.