Dr Cialdini in the Australian Financial Review

The Australian Financial Review has featured a story today about the creator of Principles of Persuasion, Dr Robert Cialdini.  In Rachel Lebihan's article in the Work Space section on page 59 Dr Cialdini discusses how the Principles of Persuasion can be used to help secure your job and make yourself irreplaceable in the workplace.

Dr Cialdini outlines how the six principles, Reciprocity, Liking, Consensus or Social Proof, Authority, Consistency, and Scarcity, can be applied in various circumstances and among varying group dynamics.

‘‘The single most persuasive tactic is not to have a single most persuasive tactic,’’ Cialdini says.

Cialdini says it’s ‘‘a fool’s game’’ to try to use the same approach in every situation.

Probably less than 10 per cent of the population have a natural gift for being persuasive, says Cialdini. But he says there is more than half a century of research into the science of influence and persuasion, and if it’s a science and there are natural laws associated with it, then it can be taught and learned.