Credits: Social Media
Former spy’s trick to ‘influence’ anyone you want will always give you the upper hand
Spies are taught all kinds of tricks that you could use to your advantage, like how to ‘influence’ anyone you want.
Former covert CIA intelligence officer Andrew Bustamante has shared exactly how to influence someone in just a few simple steps – and it could come in handy one day.
Spy trick to ‘influence’ people
Speaking on Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast, he explained that you first need to understand the difference between influence and persuasion.
Persuasion is what happens when you “actively put energy into changing someone’s mind” or getting someone to take a certain action. However, influence is “what you have when you’re not talking”. You’re not actively trying to influence them like you are with persuasion, it just happens.
Influencing someone means you have a huge effect on their character, opinions and behavior, which you can use to your advantage. You have the ability to change their opinions and beliefs and sway their decisions.
The first step to influencing people is not letting them avoid you, the ex-CIA agent said. You need to force them to be around you. Then, you have to encourage them to “invest their time and energy” into the relationship until there is some sort of compliance.
‘Know, Like, Trust’
After that, the person who you want to influence has to go through a three-stage process that Bustamante calls: “Know, Like, Trust.”
First, they have to know you exist. Then, they decide that they like you as a person. Finally, they start to trust you.
“You’ve invested all this time and energy into them so you do like them and without even realising it, you start to trust the person that you’re with,” he explained. “That is the beginning of influence,” and once you influence someone, you can essentially control their actions.
Being able to persuade a person to do what you want them to do can be really handy in all areas of life. From getting them to do the dishes to liking the same TV shows as you – there are loads of different advantages.
In a different podcast episode, the former CIA officer revealed another ‘spy trick’ that will instantly improve your life.
