In Chapter Seven of our book The Elements of Persuasion we talk about the power of the right Antagonist to focus debate and motivate your own team. We also warn of the dangers of demonization – passionately and personally attacking your antagonist in a way that comes back to bite you.
MoveOn.Org provides a good example of this mistake. On Sunday they ran a full-page ad in the NYT with the headline “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?” It has created a firestorm of protest on the Right, allowing the discussion to shift from whether the data Petraeus is basing his report to Congress on is an accurate reflection of facts on the ground, to whether General Petraeus is somehow a traitor (not true and worse, not the point at all). Instead of using the Pertraeus report as an opportunity to make their case that the Administration routinely cherry picks data – by demonizing the messenger, what MoveOn ended up doing was throwing red meat to their opponents.
In politics there is usually time to recover, but in the Boardroom – where relationships take years to develop but can be destroyed in moments – this type of mistake can be a career-ender. How can you avoid it? Take the time to see your opponent as the hero of his or her own story. Once you have seen the world through their eyes, you will not only be more effective in taking apart their arguments, but you will be more likely to avoid unintended "blowback" as well.
Comments