ABSTRACT
An ancient Chinese proverb states that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a
single step.” It could be the guiding description of persuasion. Contrary to popular
opinion, persuasion does not happen with the flick of a switch. You cannot just get
someone to change his or her mind. On the contrary, persuasion is a process that takes
time, consists of a number of steps, and actively involves the recipient of the message. If
a communicator wants to persuade people to change their minds about an issue, he or she
must “get into the target audience’s heads,” understand how they think about issues,
appreciate their mental hang-ups, empathize with their private fears, and gear the
message accordingly.
