Warren Buffett’s Secret Trick to Persuasion Revealed (It’s Not What You Think)

No wonder Harvard Business Review calls persuasion a necessary art.

When it comes to persuasion, there is an endless list of strategies, methods, and tactics we employ in order to convince others to see things our way. Effective persuasion involves a lot of factors–from evaluating and presenting evidence, to being able to accurately sense and respond to someone’s emotional state.

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it?

Luckily, we can turn to renowned billionaire and investor, Warren Buffett, to help keep this necessary art simple and easy.

Here’s where you may have to pay attention. Although widely known around the world for his wealth (as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has a net worth of $75 billion), Buffett’s tactics can be incredibly subtle. In fact, it has taken the watchful eye of Robert Cialdini, author of the groundbreaking book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, to identify what, exactly, Buffett does so remarkably well in the realm of persuasion.

Cialdini details that Buffett’s trick can be found in the billionaire’s annual letter to shareholders: “I’ve noticed something that he does,” Cialdini notes. “On the first or second page of the report he describes an error, a mistake, that he and his company made the previous year.” Following this description, Buffett next explores his strengths that enabled him to handle the misstep, and other highly important details he wants the reader to truly pay attention to.

Cialdini calls Buffett’s admission of fault initially disarming, but also understands it as instrumental to Buffett’s process of persuasion. The move reveals Buffett as a trustworthy and credible source of information, a source unafraid to talk about mistakes. As a result, shareholders are deeply engaged with what he has to say next, and are, therefore, more receptive to his ideas and suggestions.

As Buffett approaches the age of 87 this year, we come to find more and more that his wisdom is timeless, whether in areas of business or even areas of persuasion. So the next time you’re with a potential client or business partner and you are looking to establish trust, go ahead and divulge your mistakes–and then your strengths, too.