Chapter 4. Golden Rule 4: Listen and listen again

The goal of an argument is to explain to another person your concerns or views about something and hopefully to win them over to your way of thinking. Expressing yourself clearly is therefore crucial and we shall be talking about that later. But, if you’re to persuade another person, you must listen to what they’re saying.

Listen, listen, listen. It’s such good advice I mention it thrice.

There are three important reasons for this:

• You will only persuade someone of something if you address the concerns they have.

• You must present your arguments in terms that the other person will find convincing.

• By keeping quiet (when listening) you’re giving the other person time to present their arguments. ...

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