"Diplomacy is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they’ll look forward to the trip."

Model UN is as much about being a charismatic leader and skillful negotiator as it is about impersonating UN diplomats and hence acting in a diplomatic manner. Throughout a MUN conference one does encounter a considerate level of competitiveness and is hereby facing the task of juggling a multitude of interests, opinions, backgrounds and heterogeneous situational awareness. But just as in our everyday lives and professional experience, in order to succeed, you do need people to cooperate with you, either by building strong alliances, connecting with some people or convincing others. In one of our previous tidbits on persuasion we’ve already tackled the principle of liking as core to persuasive power and key to cooperation.

But how does one generate liking?

Finding an equation to master complex social challenges like successfully persuading an audience seems like a tough job best left for decades of research. Luckily, John Coleman boiled a cook-book-style, non-mathy equation for persuasion down for us. Coleman argues that persuasion is built on a clear structure of the speech, as well as a generous addition of logic, emotion and credibility. To round off the persuasive masterpiece, he suggests to build a strong tie with the audience, and to invite them to join your suggested actions.
Curious about this winning recipe for persuading? Follow this link to the full article.

Do you remember the famous TV show "Let's Make A Deal"? No? But you are certainly familiar with situations, where time is of the essence and you only have a very limited temporal space for making a deal - or walking out empty handedly. 

According to Michael Wheeler, Professor at Harvard Business School, there are three critical things to pay attention to in those situations: 

1. You won't get anywhere until you have your counterpart’s attention. Even if someone’s sitting across the table from you, their mind may be wandering and not focused on what’s important to you. You’ve got to find the right bait to lure them into the conversation.
2. Never ask questions that are easy for others to say “no” to. If the shoeshine vendor were simply to ask, “Wanna shine?” people would rush on by. Instead he makes prospects ask themselves why would they want to look anything less than their very best.
3. To engage somebody else, you've got to be engaged yourself. Take another look at Paul’s snapshot of the man. See his knowing smile, his wide-open eyes, and the peace-sign he’s flashing. You can’t expect others to connect with you if you’re not engrossed with them.

Curious, where those rules of thumb come from? Read the full story here.