It’s feelings, not facts, that convince an audience

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Have you noticed something as you have been reading this series of pieces on how to sound like a leader? Something missing? Something I haven’t been saying? What has been missing is this: at no point have I written that you need to have facts to sound like a leader. Or statistics. Or proof points.

You do need to have authority to sound like a leader, of course. And people often think that throwing out lots of facts gives them that authority. But they are wrong. Why? Because the human mind does not work in the way we like to think it works.

We like to think we are logical, thinking creatures and, compared with any other creature on the planet, we are. But we are not so very different from all those other creatures: just different enough to make the difference, to give us our evolutionary edge. 

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So, we humans are capable of logical thought, and of great thinking – but that is not how we operate day to day. If you think about it, how could we?

When you got your breakfast this morning, did you fully consider the pros and cons of the various options, factoring in calories, nutrients and the balance of your digestive system? Or did you just grab what you fancied, or what was easy? 

And when you stepped out of your door, did you think about which foot to lead with? As you walked, did you calculate how fast your heart needed to beat to supply your muscles with enough oxygen, or work out how deeply you needed to breathe? No, no and no. 

Because most of what we do, we do on automatic. As big as our brains are, we simply do not have the time or capacity to bring each little decision to the level of consciousness so that it can be logically considered.

What does this mean for people who want to sound like leaders? It means a lot. Because, just as people do not think logically about the speed of their heartbeat, they do not think logically about who to follow and why.

Sometimes they try to, of course, like someone meditating might consciously slow their heartbeat. But they cannot sustain it. We remain creatures of instinct, and we are helpless when confronted with our instincts.

Take the questions I have been posing throughout this piece so far. Did you notice? That is now 11 questions in less than 450 words, and is about to be 12. Why would I do that? Because, as human beings, we all react instinctively to questions. 

When we are asked a question, we are either expecting to have to answer or, if we do not know that answer, then we desire to know what it is. In either case, when we are asked a question we are instinctively alert and attentive.

That instinct is so deep that we pay attention to questions even when we are not allowed to answer them. When a speaker giving a keynote at a conference asks a rhetorical question, they are not expecting an answer, they are demanding (and getting) your attention.

Take a look at a speech that was recently delivered in Qatar by a professor speaking to postgraduate students.

Professor Tamer Elsayed opened his speech by asking five questions in the first minute or so, and then spent the next few minutes giving inadequate answers to those questions. Finally, five minutes in and halfway through his speech, he provides what he believes to be the true answer to the questions he has posed.

If you watch the speech, even if you are not a postgraduate student, you will probably feel compelled to listen.

Not only do you want to know the answer to his questions, but your interest only grows as he goes through various possible answers and rejects them. 

Critically, notice what happens to your level of interest once he has given his real answer. It will drop off a cliff. Why? Because he has released his grip on your instincts.

The point is this: if you want to sound like a leader then you have to grab hold of people’s instincts. There are many ways to tap into those instincts, and that is what this series is all about. Yet, our instinctive reaction to a bombardment of statistics is not awe, but boredom.

We do not follow facts, we follow people. So, feel free to use proof points if you like, but do not expect them to win your arguments for you. They can make your arguments feel logical, but remember this: it is the feeling that persuades, not the logic.

Lech Mintowt-Czyz is a multi-award winning speechwriter who helps leaders with all their thought leadership needs through his company Speech Success: www.speechsuccess.world. He used to be a journalist for British national newspapers the Daily Mail and The Times