Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by flipside 4961 days ago
You're right, convincing others is a whole different ball game. Since I clearly suck at it, I've done my best to suck a little less each time I try.

Here's hoping pg writes that essay next.

3 comments

Don't hold your breath :)

The best material I've found about this kind of stuff is: Robert Cialdini's "Influence", and some of the less creepy pickup material, particularly to do with "inner game". Also, this new book by Australian business journo Valerie Khoo looks interesting:

http://www.amazon.com/Power-Stories-Build-Business-ebook/dp/...

Try the Richard Feynman approach - if you really want to understand what you're doing, try to teach it. Like, write a manual about what your business does, explain it to mom, etc.
+1 for teaching. I find that explaining deep technical problems to people who are smart, but otherwise clueless about technology, forces me to understand the issue myself at a much deeper level. My girlfriend is the best rubber ducky debugging buddy ever.
Also check out the book "The Art of Woo" Goofy title, but a very interesting book on selling ideas.