One of the most important pieces of research baked into our Thinkbait ‘thought leadership’ system is this simple insight from a blog first published in 2021: Stick to your very best arguments.
Here are the details, with Dr. Sivanathan’s TED Talk from five years ago that holds up very well.
For those interested in creating more persuasive content, I wanted to quickly highlight this new talk by Dr. Niro Sivanathan, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at the London Business School. It contains some of the latest science on content, and what form the elements of a truly persuasive argument.
Since 2016, our Thinkbait model has sought to construct each whitepaper, blog or podcast episode in a way that optimizes meaningful engagement, that is to say learning and retention, over compulsive clicks or interactions. The templates and strategies we’re continuing to implement for our clients are inspired by groundbreaking insights like these.
What do we learn from Dr. Sivanathan that’s so useful? Quite simply confirming what any artisan would know instinctively: Quality over quantity, values over volume.
If you are a pundit or other Thought Leader, you may want to print the following quote and staple it to a wall near your desk; it’s that good.
“In the world of communicating for the purposes of influence, quality trumps quantity. By increasing the number of arguments, you do not strengthen your case, but rather you actively weaken it.
Put another way, you cannot increase the quality of an argument by simply increasing the quantity of your argument.”
Dr. Sivanathan’s work has revealed other interesting, even somewhat disturbing insights on argument delivery or format. For instance, that consumers view a drug more favourably in a TV ad if severe side-effects are placed immediately ahead of moderate ones.
His four-word hack for leaders of organizations looking to lean into their influence, as he told CNBC: “Keep your explanation brief.”
“The next time you want to speak up in a meeting, speak in favour of a government legislation that you’re deeply passionate about, or simply want to help a friend see the world through a different lens, it is important to note that the delivery of your message is every bit as important as its content,” he said in the TED talk. “Stick to your strong arguments. Because your arguments don’t add up in the minds of the receiver, they average out.”
Here’s Prof. Sivanathan’s full TED talk from 2021:
Being just old enough to have experienced the media business before the social media revolution, I’ve nagged peers of my generation for years about the dangers of online populism and drive-by journalism. Shaming political opponents, rallying online mobs or otherwise engaging in performative activism for clicks over focused, precise arguments of substance is bad communications strategy; bad for your brain, for your arguments and the issues they attempt to advance, and for everyone’s mental health. It’s about time we started accepting the dangers of clickbait as nearly-settled science.
That means regulation or, to be more precise, government creating a self-regulatory environment for all media companies, online and traditional (more on my Medium rant about regulation). Anything less is simply disregarding public health, and opening the door to more misinformation, cultural tension and political unrest.
But the bottom line would be that taking shortcuts with your arguments makes them weaker and less persuasive. As these latest findings confirm, over time, your public opinions will be judged not by their popularity but by your record of getting things right.
Dan Delmar is Managing Partner, Communications with TNKR Media.
Photo by Andrew Neel / Unsplash
