Friday, October 03, 2008

Emotions - Influence - Crowds

Not so new. But good reading. Focuses on emotions in the context of accepting advice.
Brings out the importance of understanding the subject's emotions - state of mind - before attempting to influence her. This is a bit of a digression, but as a KMer, I not only 'am thinking of influencing individuals but also groups of people - mass communication - and that is a different ball-game altogether. It is a paradox that influencing a crowd can either be very difficult due to there being a complex set of independant minds or very easy due to there being a flavour of herd mentality. But then, one must remember that herd mentality cannot be sustained and can only cause harm because of its sole reliance on emotions.

2 comments:

Prashant Sree said...

Well said about the dual paradoz of influencing the Crowd... Emotions play an important role in reaching over and connecting.,. What matters as you said, is the passion with which the Speaker speaks.,.!!

Are you preparing to launch yourself in political arena ?? ;)

Nimmy said...

Hey Prashant! :-) Hmm...!
Me and politics?? That's like chalk and cheese! :D But I love inspiring people and I must admit that there are some politicians who can be quite genuinely inspiring...Let their breed grow and I may reconsider my hatred for politics! :-)