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  • A year ago I was in a computer science class when the professor made a mistake.

  • I was confident enough in the subject so I raised my hand and I told him he was wrong.

  • I've read the correct solution in the book he told us to use for the class.

  • I thought that since it was written in the book, logically he would admit and correct

  • his mistake.

  • Instead he went on and said that my solution was totally wrong.

  • I definitely didn't expect that, so I thought maybe showing him the paragraph in the actual

  • book will change his mind.

  • And after 5 minutes of heated discussion and arguing with facts, he finally said

  • that the information in the book is wrong and that the he was right.

  • I tried persuade someone with arguing and reasoning, I thought facts will definitely

  • make the professor change his mind.

  • How silly was I ... Did I really thought that the professor is going to swallow his pride

  • admit he was wrong and change his mind in front of all the students JUST because I had

  • the correct information?

  • I don't think so.

  • So if you want to win someone to your way of thinking, never argue with them, because

  • as soon as you tell the person is wrong, you already lost.

  • I had a friend who was extremely good at persuading people.

  • One night we were out partying, we met a few girls in the club, and generally had a good time.

  • So the night came to an end and we thought that it would be great to continue the party

  • at our place, so we let our magnetic friend to try and convince them to come with us.

  • At the time I had no idea why he was so successful at persuading people but after I've read a

  • few books on the topic I can now clearly see how he did it.

  • At first he asked them if they loved to partythey were in a club so the answer was

  • clearly yes.

  • Then he asked if they had a great time tonight, the answer was yes again.

  • He then proceeded to ask few more questionsand he made sure that the answers to all

  • of them were likely to be yeses.

  • Finally he asked if they wanted to continue the party at our place, and sure enough they

  • thought that would be a great idea and said Yes.

  • See how he didn't started to logically reason with them as for why they should come with

  • us, he got yes after yes and slowly the girls arrived at the conclusion they would've refused

  • few minutes previously.

  • Socrates, was one of the greatest philosophers the world has ever known.

  • He did something that only a handful of men in all history have been able to do: he sharply

  • changed the whole course of human thought; and now, twenty-four centuries after his death,

  • he is honored as one of the wisest persuaders who ever influenced this world.

  • So how did he do it?

  • Did he tell people they were wrong?

  • Well not Socrates.

  • He was far too clever for that.

  • His whole technique, now called the "Socratic method," was based upon getting a "yes, yes" response.

  • He asked questions with which his opponent would have to agree.

  • He kept on winning one admission after another until he had an armful of yeses.

  • He kept on asking questions until finally, almost without realizing it, his opponents

  • found themselves embracing a conclusion they would have bitterly denied a few minutes previously.

  • The next time you are tempted to tell someone he or she is wrong, remember old Socrates

  • and ask a gentle question - a question that will get the "yes, yes" response.

  • If you found this video helpful leave a like, and share it with a friend who you think will

  • find it interesting.

  • Anyway don't forget to subscribe and thanks for watching.

A year ago I was in a computer science class when the professor made a mistake.

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