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Mike White walked onto Survivor 50 with no immunity idol, no physical advantage, and no survival skills. What he had was a story. The creator of The White Lotus knew exactly what his weapon was. "Being a storyteller is pretty much my only skill set," he admitted. "Being able to see people in their narrative, articulate that, and get in people's heads." His strategy wasn't to outrun or outmuscle anyone. It was to make every player feel like he was a supporting character in their story. For nine days it worked perfectly. The self-described "Machiavellian puppet master" looked firmly in control redirecting targets, pulling allies closer, engineering outcomes from the shadows. Then he got too clever. He compared one player to a notorious backstabber from a previous season. The story he told landed wrong. It reminded his ally Christian just how dangerous Mike's powers of persuasion could be. Christian struck first. Mike was blindsided. Even the master storyteller got beat by a better story. That tension between narrative power and its limits is exactly what we're unpacking at our next Mastermind Book Club. Join Tom Ruwitch and me on Thursday March 26th at 11:30 AM Pacific/2:30 PM Eastern Our featured book, 10 Commandments of Con Men, Pickup Artists, Magicians, Door-to-Door Salesmen, Hypnotists, Copywriters, Negotiators, Political Propagandists, Stand Up Comedians, and Oscar-Winning Screenwriters reveals the 10 Commandments used by the most persuasive people on the planet, from pickup artists to political propagandists, door-to-door salesmen to hypnotists. Register here See you Thursday Ted |
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In the 1920s, Chicago, a con man named Yellow Kid Weil, Joseph Weil, had a gift. He never lied to his marks. Not exactly. Instead, he told them a story. A vivid, irresistible story where they were the hero, the insider, the one who finally got the upper hand. By the time the story was over, his marks weren't being deceived. They were choosing to believe. There's a difference, and it matters more than you think. Weil understood something that the world's greatest persuaders all share: facts...
I fixed computers when they filled entire rooms. I was there when computer networking was invented, not learned about it, watched it being built. Employee number 40 at Cellular One. Fewer than 10,000 cell phone subscribers in all of the San Francisco Bay Area. By the time I left, they had over 1,500 employees and 500,000 subscribers. I was working on the internet in 1992. Before browsers. Before anyone had a name for it. I say all that not to impress you.I say it because I need you to...
I'm still enjoying the high from today's Peloton ride and pondering the nugget shared by Alex Toussaint. The Peloton instructors not only give your body a workout, they share inspirational thoughts that stretch your thinking. Today Alex shared something simple but powerful. "If you're making big changes in your life, don't make one big change. Take micro steps." Micro steps. Not one giant leap. Not some massive transformation overnight. Just small steps, one at a time. Seems pretty obvious,...