Arranging your ideas
Logic is the method by which you assemble ideas into a coherent
structure. So you must have a number of key ideas that support
the message you have chosen. Ideally, they are answers to the
question you can imagine your listener asking when you utter
your message.
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83 The Skills of Persuasion
There are two ways to organise ideas logically. They can be
organised deductively, in a sequence, and inductively, in a
pyramid.
Arguing deductively
Deductive logic
takes the form of a syllogism: an argument in
which a conclusion is inferred from two statements (see Figure
5.1). To argue deductively:
• make a second statement that relates to the first – by
commenting on either the subject of the first statement,
or on what you have said about that subject;
• state the implication of these two statements being true
simultaneously. This conclusion is your message.
Arguing inductively
Inductive logic
works by stating a governing idea and then
delivering a group of other ideas that the governing idea
summarises. Another name for this kind of logic is
grouping and
summarising
.
Finding your key ideas
If your message provokes
Your key ideas will be:
the listener to ask:
‘Why?’
Reasons, benefits or causes
‘How?’
Methods, ways to do
something, procedures
‘Which ones?’
These ones: items in a list
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84 Improve your Communication Skills
Inductive logic creates pyramids of ideas (see Figure 5.2). You can
test the logic of the structure by asking whether the ideas in any
one group are answers to the question that the summarising idea
provokes. (You’ve done this already when formulating your
message.) That question will be one of three: ‘Why?’, ‘How?’ or
‘Which ones?’
Inductive logic tends to be more powerful in business
than deductive logic. Deductive logic brings two major risks
with it.
1. It demands real patience on the part of the listener. If you
put too many ideas into your sequence, you may stretch
their patience to breaking point.
2. You may undermine your own argument. Each stage in the
deductive sequence is an invitation to the listener to
disagree. And they only have to disagree with one of the
stages for the whole sequence to collapse.
Men are
mortal
Socrates
is a man
Therefore,
Socrates is
mortal
Any company
that makes a
profit in Asia is
worth buying
Company A
makes a profit
in Asia
Therefore,
Company A is
worth buying
Volumes
increase if you
meet all four
operational
requirements
You are not
currently
meeting any
of these
Therefore,
volumes are
unlikely to
grow
Figure 5.1
Some examples of deductive reasoning
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