This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

The best idea in the room loses to the second-best idea argued by someone who knows how to argue. You have watched it happen.

What is going wrong right now

You are responsible for something you cannot instruct anyone to do. The developers report to another manager, the budget belongs to finance, the decision sits with a director who gives you eleven minutes. So you send a well-written document nobody reads, you explain your reasoning to someone who was never going to be convinced by reasoning, and you leave the meeting with a vague agreement that dissolves by Thursday. Then a worse proposal goes ahead because its author spent the week talking to the right people.

What changes after this course

You stop relying on being right and start building the conditions in which being right matters. You will know who to talk to before the meeting, what each of those people actually cares about, and how to frame the same proposal three different ways for three different types of person. You will hold your position when the first objection comes rather than retreating into politeness. And people will believe you, because trust is built deliberately here rather than hoped for.

Your instructor

Mike, the number one HR instructor on Udemy, with more than 1.6 million course enrolments and over 150,000 professionals trained. Holder of PHRi and SHRM-CP certifications and HRCI representative in more than 10 countries. Built the people function of the unicorn Preply and worked at Wargaming, Alfa-Bank and iDeals, where every result depended on people who did not report to him.

How the course is built

Influence rests on four things, and the course builds them in order. First, your own credibility: the competences that make people take you seriously, from listening and negotiation to owning mistakes and thinking critically under pressure. Second, your emotional footing, because nobody is persuaded by someone visibly rattled — self-awareness, regulation, rapport and the ability to run an inspiring conversation. Third, the person opposite you: MBTI, DISC, PAEI, Belbin, Hogan and Big Five, so you can recognise who you are dealing with and stop making the same argument to everyone. Fourth, the mechanics themselves: AIDA, SPIN, FAB, value propositions, storytelling, objection handling with LAER, and closing. The course then applies all of it to the two hardest everyday cases — giving feedback that changes behaviour, and resolving a conflict between people who have stopped listening — and closes with situational leadership.

What is included

• Lifetime access to all course materials

• Active instructor support in the Q&A section

• Udemy Certificate of Completion

• Practical assignments and real business cases

• A section with additional courses, tools and resources

Why start now

Every meeting where you were right and unpersuasive is a project that went the wrong way with your name on it. Organisations promote the people who can move others, not the people with the best documents. Enrol now and start the first lesson today.