Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don’t Matter PDF
Preview Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don’t Matter
Portfolio/Penguin An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC 375 Hudson Street New York, New York 10014 Copyright © 2017 by Scott Adams, Inc. Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Adams, Scott, 1957– author. Title: Win bigly : persuasion in a world where facts don’t matter / Scott Adams. Description: New York : Portfolio HC, 2017. Identifiers: LCCN 2017034760 | ISBN 9780735219717 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780735219724 (e-book) | ISBN 9780525533320 (international export edition) Subjects: LCSH: Persuasion (Psychology) | Blogs—United States. | Deception—United States. | Truthfulness and falsehood—United States. | Social psychology—United States. | Trump, Donald, 1946– Classification: LCC BF637.P4 A23 2017 | DDC 303.3/42–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017034760 Penguin is committed to publishing works of quality and integrity. In that spirit, we are proud to offer this book to our readers; however, the story, the experiences, and the words are the author’s alone. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If you require legal advice or other expert assistance, you should seek the services of a competent professional. While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses, and other contact information at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content. Version_1 For Kristina, my love and my muse CONTENTS TITLE PAGE COPYRIGHT DEDICATION PREAMBLE: THE DAY MY REALITY SPLIT INTO TWO INTRODUCTION (WHERE I PRIME YOU FOR THE REST) PART 1 WHY FACTS ARE OVERRATED THE MOST IMPORTANT PERCEPTUAL SHIFT IN HISTORY ABOUT FACTS PERSUASION VOCABULARY PART 2 HOW TO SEE REALITY IN A MORE USEFUL WAY THE MYTH OF THE RATIONAL MIND HOW STRONG IS PERSUASION? THE PERSUASION FILTER COGNITIVE DISSONANCE CONFIRMATION BIAS MASS DELUSIONS WHEN REALITY BIFURCATED THE MAKING OF A HYPNOTIST PART 3 HOW PRESIDENT TRUMP DOES WHAT OTHERS CAN’T THE TIME OF KINGS PRESIDENT TRUMP’S TALENT STACK TRUMP’S ROSIE O’DONNELL MOMENT THE PERSUASION STACK SETTING THE TABLE GO BIGLY OR GO HOME IS PRESIDENT TRUMP A “NATURAL” PERSUADER? PART 4 HOW TO USE PERSUASION IN BUSINESS AND POLITICS HOW TO DESIGN A LINGUISTIC KILL SHOT HOW TO USE VISUAL PERSUASION HOW TO MAKE PEOPLE IMAGINE YOU AS PRESIDENT HOW I GOT THE VP PREDICTION WRONG HOW TO PERSUADE BY ASSOCIATION HOW TO CREATE EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGN SLOGANS AND LOGOS GODZILLA GETS IN THE GAME (OR DOES HE?) HOW TO GET AWAY WITH BAD BEHAVIOR HOW A TRAINED PERSUADER EVALUATES SCANDALS HOW TO WIN BY A HAIR(CUT) HOW TO CREATE TWO WAYS TO WIN, NO WAY TO LOSE HOW TO USE THE HIGH-GROUND MANEUVER A GRAB BAG OF TRUMP’S QUICKEST AND EASIEST PERSUASION TOOLS PART 5 WHY JOINING A TRIBE MAKES YOU POWERFUL AND BLIND HOW I USED THE PERSUASION FILTER TO PREDICT WHY I ENDORSED CLINTON (FOR MY SAFETY) UNTIL I DIDN’T THE THIRD ACT WAS I PREDICTING OR CAUSING? ELECTION NIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS APPENDICES APPENDIX A: THE PERSUASION READING LIST APPENDIX B: HOW TO BE A BETTER WRITER APPENDIX C: HOW TO FIND OUT IF YOU ARE A SIMULATION APPENDIX D: TRUMP’S MANY MISTAKES NOTES INDEX ALSO BY SCOTT ADAMS PREAMBLE: THE DAY MY REALITY SPLIT INTO TWO I n February of 2016 I began to experience two separate realities at the same time. In one reality, candidate for president Donald Trump had just ended his chances of becoming president of the United States by refusing to disavow the KKK, and David Duke, on a CNN interview with Jake Tapper. Trump said he didn’t hear the question. This was a big problem for candidate Trump. It was also a big problem for me. I was one of the earliest public figures to have predicted Trump’s win, and I was in the middle of an unplanned career pivot from “guy who created the Dilbert comic” to something like a political pundit. My blog traffic went through the roof whenever I wrote about Trump’s skill as a persuader. I don’t know much about politics, but I know skillful persuasion when I see it. As it turned out, there was a big demand for what I called my “persuasion filter” on the race. Producers for news outlets both large and small were scrambling to get me on their shows. I wrote and spoke so much about Trump’s persuasion skills that people labeled me a Trump supporter, although not in the sense of supporting his policies. By then my writing about Trump had already cost me half of my friends. My lucrative speaking career had dropped to zero, and I didn’t expect any new Dilbert licensing deals. I had become toxic for any kind of mixed crowd. But I was okay with my situation because I expected to be right in my prediction that Trump would win it all. Winning fixes most problems. Although the polls disagreed with me, I thought my prediction of a Trump win was looking good until the Jake Tapper interview on CNN. In this version of reality, I had foolishly alienated my friends, annihilated my professional reputation, and cut my income in half. And all I would get in return was a Wikipedia entry under my name saying I had supported an alleged racist for president. The situation was less than ideal. I publicly disavowed Trump because of his CNN interview, just to get out of the blast zone. But by then it was too late to salvage everything I had already lost. Like an idiot, I had managed to turn a respected career as one of the top cartoonists in the country into a grimy embarrassment that wouldn’t wash off. That was one version of reality. I experienced a second version of reality at the same time. This version involved Trump brushing off the CNN/KKK controversy and going on to win the presidency. In that version of reality I would be redeemed in the end, at least in terms of being a credible political observer. Winning always feels good. For the next several months I lived both realities. But I trusted only one of them. I doubled down on my prediction of a Trump win. If that sounds crazy to you, well, that’s nothing. We’re just getting started. There’s plenty more crazy in this book. INTRODUCTION (WHERE I PRIME YOU FOR THE REST) I ’m a trained hypnotist. And I’m going to tell you about the spookiest year of my life. It happened between June 2015 and November 2016. Okay, that’s a little more than a year. Everything you are about to read in this book is true, as far as I know. I don’t expect you to believe all of it. (Who could?) But I promise it is true, to the best of my knowledge. I’ve waited decades to deliver the message in this book. I waited because the world wasn’t ready, but also because the messenger—yours truly—didn’t have the skill to deliver it right. The story was too hard to tell. But it was important, and it needed to be told.
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