Handling People =============== Discrediting a report --------------------- STAGE 1 Give reasons in terms of the public interest to not publish the report. - Say there are security considerations. - Point out report could be used to put unwelcome pressure on your group because it might be interpreted. - Say it would be better to wait for a wider and more detailed study over a longer time scale. - If there isn't one, commission one. STAGE 2 Discredit the evidence you are not publishing via press leaks. - Say it leaves some important questions unanswered. - Say much of the evidence is inconclusive. - Say that the figures are open to other interpretations. - Say that certain findings are contradictory. - Say that some of the main conclusions have been questioned. - If they haven't, question them. STAGE 3 Undermine the recommendations. - Say that it is not really a basis for long-term decisions. - Say that there is not sufficient information on which to base a valid assessment. - Say that there is not really any need for a fundamental rethink of existing policies. - Say that broadly speaking, it endorses current practice. STAGE 4 Discredit the man who produced the report, off the record. - Say that he is harbouring a grudge against your group. - Say that he's a publicity seeker. - Say that he used to be a consultant to a multi-national company. - If he wasn't, say that he's hoping to be. - Say that he's trying for a knighthood, vice-chancellorship, or similar. (Ref: "Yes, Minister", /The Greasy Pole/. BBC, 1981.) Discrediting a person --------------------- Stage 1: Express absolute support. ("After all, it is necessary to get behind someone before you can stab them in the back.") Stage 2: List all their praiseworthy qualities, especially those that make the person unsuitable for the job. Stage 3: Praise those qualities to the point where they become a vice. Oversimplify their views by labeling them (e.g. turning a virtue of honesty into "Mr Clean"). Question their ability to deal with the task at hand due to their virtues (e.g. being too nice meaning the person might not be able to handle underhanded antagonists). Stage 4: Name all their bad qualities by defending them and excusing them. ("It wasn't really his fault his last company collapsed...") Stage 5: Hint at hidden scandal. (Ref: "Yes, Prime Minister", /A Conflict Of Interests/. BBC, 1987.) Ending a report --------------- Courageous: "On the existing evidence, the committee can see no reason not to proceed". Careful: "While the committee feel there is no reason not to proceed on the existing evidence, it must be emphasised that %s is comparatively recent and it would be irresponsible to deny, that after further research, it might be proved to be [bad]." (Ref: "Yes, Minister", /The Greasy Pole/. BBC, 1981.) Advising ignoring a situation ----------------------------- STAGE 1: There is no situation. STAGE 2: There is a situation, but nothing needs doing. STAGE 3: Something needs doing, but nothing can be done. STAGE 4: Something could have been done, but it is too late. (Ref: "Yes, Prime Minister", /A Victory For Democracy/. BBC, 1986.) Excuses ------- (See chapter 40 of the second season DVD of Yes, Minister".) Fighting people --------------- Don't fight people on battle-fields of their choosing. Use the areas they have no control over to fight them. Even if your real reason for bringing someone down is X, use reason Y if X is that person's prime concern -- so long as it gets them down, the official reason doesn't matter. Invent new battlefields if necessary. People are always better at defending themselves on their own grounds. (q.v. FBI vs Al Capone.) Gettings things approved ------------------------ If you want people to agree to something they don't want to agree to, then insert it surreptitiously into a much larger work at the last minute and then have people vote on the larger work. (q.v. inserting riders into legislation in the US.) Ignoring rules -------------- If you don't agree with a rule you are told to follow, announce your agreement to it in a statement, and in that statement, assert that you intend to follow it in a manner consistent with some other set of rules; or that you will consider certain passages as merely being "advisory". (q.v. signing statements by the Bush administration.) Committees ---------- (1) Insist on doing everything through "channels." Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions. (2) Make "speeches." Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your "points" by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate "patriotic" comments. (3) When possible, refer all matters to committees, for "further study and consideration." Attempt to make the committees as large as possible -- never less than five. (4) Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible. (5) Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions. (6) Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision. (7) Advocate "caution." Be "reasonable" and urge your fellow-conferees to be "reasonable" and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on. (8) Be worried about the propriety of any decision -- raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated lies within the jurisdiction of the group or whether it might conflict with the policy of some higher echelon. (Ref: Strategic Services Field Manual No. 3; "Simple Sabotage Field Manual, Strategic Services (Provisional)"; Office of Strategic Services, Washington, D. C., 17 January 1944; page 28) Bertrand Russell’s 10 Commandments of Teaching ---------------------------------------------- 1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything. 2. Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light. 3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed. 4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory. 5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found. 6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you. 7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric. 8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter. 9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it. 10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness. Communicating ------------- SELLING QUALITIES OF THE LETTER 1. Is the Start Effective? Be careful it does not challenge the reader and put him into an antagonistic frame of mind. When possible give it a news start, or embody in it the reason for writing. Don't start off from nowhere. 2. Does It Appeal to the Reader's Self-interest? The motives that make men act are (1) Love; (2) Gain; (3) Pride; (4) Duty; (5) Fear; (6) Self-indulgence. Unless your letter appeals to these motives in an irresistible way you will not get action. 3. Does It Make Him Want What You Are Selling? You cannot sell a man something he does not want. If you are selling a chair make him think how nice it would feel to lounge in a big easy chair and smoke his after dinner cigar. 4. Does It Create Confidence? Are you asking him to take your word -- a stranger whom he has never even met -- that what you say is true? Why not use a testimonial paragraph and let someone else tell about your virtues? What provision have you made in case he is not satisfied? 5. Does It Ask for an Order? Remember people are not mind readers. You may know perfectly well why you are writing them and what you want them to do but do they? COMPOSITION OF THE LETTER 1. Does It Invite Reading? Are paragraphs short and margins wide? Is it free from erasures? Is the signature legible? 2. Is It Easy to Understand? Break up all involved sentences into several short ones. Use a sentence for each idea. Be careful about pronouns, be sure that the reference is clear in each Avoid parenthetical and explanatory clauses. 3. Is the Action Continuous? Blue pencil all meaningless words and phrases. Get the message you want to convey clearly fixed in your mind, and make each step in the letter a step to that end. 4. Does It Reflect Your Personality? Tone down extravagant statements that will give the impression you are a braggart. Let it carry an atmosphere of sincerity and desire to serve. Be watchful for superlatives and the use of the word "very". 5. Is It Grammatically Correct? Have you used "was" when you ought to say "were"; "who" in place of "whom"; "differ with" instead of "differ from"; "shall" instead of "will," etc? (Ref: "The Sales Executives' Library", 1925; section twelve, page 7)