[jcutrell]

I'll add to the conversation another interesting technique from Chris Voss, which is to use no-oriented questions.

People like to say no. (I'm not sure what this cognitive bias is, but anecdotally I agree.)

So, if you can frame your requests in a way that "no is permission", it will often get a red light a bit easier.

Example: replace "Is this a good idea?" with "is this a bad idea?"

Now, of course "not a bad idea" is not the same thing as "good idea", but it's a lot more likely. Even reading that, I imagine most people would respond more intuitively, because it helps us avoid a commitment we don't necessarily want to adopt.